Digimon Adventure: A Slightly Darker Retelling
by Pikachu4Prezident
Summary: The summer that they wouldn't forget has taken a new turn! Join Brandon and the DigiDestined on their adventure that will determine the fate of both worlds... Rated T for Mild Language.
1. One Day During The Summer

Digimon Adventure: A Slightly Darker Retelling

"There was a year that couldn't be forgotten in the world of Digimon. But this time, there's a bit of a twist..."

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, any of its characters, or whatever material I reference to. I DO however own my original characters. All material is property of its orignal creators.

Author's Note: Sorry that I have been dead for a while now, but I tend to lose interest in quite a few things. Don't worry, I will get back to making Dead From The Beginning eventually. For now, I just want to go back to my childhood...with a bit of a twist, of course. I apologize for the wait. Why am I making this? Because Brian Cole has gotten me back into Digimon, and I figured out that high school friend Robert Willis likes it too. This ended up spawning a roleplay where me and him are in the story of the first and second seasons. This will only cover the first season. Keep in mind, there WILL be a slight bit of Adaptation Decay, but nothing too serious. Just sit back, and if you enjoyed watching Digimon growing up, you may like this. Or not.

The Prologue: One Day During the Summer

It was a hot summer day in Brandonopolis. It was the month of May, and everyone was awaiting the annual summer breakout party. Today was the day. The Legend's schoolwork was finished up, and he was about to arrive in his city.

Then, he arrived. Stepping out of the large airship that had just landed, the fellow was wearing triangular shades. You know, the ones you'd usually see on cool characters in anime? Yeah. He wore a colorful hawaiian shirt over his double bandolier, blue summertime trunks, and his trusty army helmet.

Because when you think summer, you think army helmet.

He raised a bottle of blue cream soda over his head as if he were giving a toast as he stood in front of the numerous citizens of his proud city.

"Today, Brandonopolis, is a good day! For I have made it through the school year once again. Now...it's time to party, max, and RELAX!", the teenaged stickman yelled to his people. They cheered wildy as the summer break from school had been announced.

The stickman had set out a bunch of food and everything for damn near everyone in the city. Millions joined the party, and had one hell of a time. Life was cool in Brandonopolis...

But even when people party, there is always someone around to spoil the fun times. There was only one being who was intent on destroying the city and its hero.

Enter Xana, an orange lizard who was mutated by the world's first atomic bomb back near the end of World War II. He started off fine, but eventually, he resented humanity for berating his general appearance, and soon regressed into wishing death upon it.

Xana watched over the festivities, not the least bit pleased.

He sighed with incontempt. "That damn little brat... It seems that no matter how hard I try, he always gets in the way of my plans", he snarled a snarl most menacingly.

"This time, I'll show him just how prepared I've become in my advances. I'll hit him with a warp the next time I'm beaten. He'll see that I have power even outside his own world."

He smirked, knowing that he had planned a gambit that existed outside the plane of reality. But he would wait unti lafter the party was done and over with late into the afternoon.

Later that afternoon, the party was over. The citizens left the party, content and ready to relax. However, the Legend knew there was much to still worry about. He had a hunch that Xana was planning something soon. The hunch was proven when one of his friends called him up on his cell phone.

"Hello?", the stickboy questioned.

"Hey, Brandon! Listen, there's a problem again", answered another voice.

"Let me guess, Bob. It's Xana, right?", Brandon asked, right on the mark.

"Yup. Not surprising at all, honestly", the purple cat responded.

"Figures. I'll go and see what he's up to...", Brandon said, exasperated.

Brandon began running towards Xana's Factory, one of the largest that he's built. Other factories he had built were destroyed by Brandon, and they just kept being built. He was a little miffed that he had to go and beat Xana to a pulp once again.

Brandon never wanted to continue to do this...but he had to. For everlasting peace.

(Brandon's POV)

Great, I thought to myself. I was beginning to wonder why Xana had to set up plans like this on nights that I had to do important things on. I'm not gonna lie, it was getting on my nerves fast.

But, I had to make sure Brandonopolis was safe and sound before I went to the Brandonopolis Army's party, so it wasn't going to take long. At least, I hoped it wasn't.

Taking various shortcuts throughout my massive city, I finally reached the factory. Saying it was as large as a city was nothing, it was at least half the size of Brandonopolis.

I had to take care; despite Xana being a bumbling idiot many times, he does have a large arsenal and tons of milita soldiers. Running headlong into the factory, if you're a regular person, is absolute suicide. You'd be dead if you're not quick to react.

I pulled out my Angel Materiel .20 cal Sniper Rifle. No sense in going loud yet unless I wanted to get ventilated twice as fast.

The sun was coming down, and I had to find some shade to avoid getting noticed. I looked through the scope of my gun, and saw two guys playing Scrabble. Guess the soldiers have to have SOME fun. I had put in tranquilizer rounds, because at the moment, I could not risk being caught. I took two shots on the guards, and both fell to the ground out cold.

I took one's clothes, and disguised myself as the enemy. I soon was inside the factory, making myself as inconspicuous as possible. It was a start, at least.

I eventually found an under construction area off to my left. I was wondering what Xana had planned to build? Curious as I usually was, I stepped over the "KEEP OUT" tape and continued forward. Inside, the hallway was not finished at all. Daylight swarmed the work area, as did construction workers. These guys were huge and muscular. They were looking at me as if I was just more gutter trash in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was there to deal with Xana, but I had to keep that to myself. Otherwise, I'd have a ton of militia on top of me in seconds.

I looked further ahead. More workers and scaffolding were abound, but I saw a tall tower-like structure. It was made of white metal and looked sleek and new. I chuckled to myself at the thought. Xana never built anything like that. In fact, everything he built looked like a junkyard industrialist's wet dream.

Speaking of the big orange lunkhead, he is on top of the tower...and modifying his flying capsule. Oh boy. If there's one thing I hate about Xana, it's his tendency to always come back stronger than before. And I'm catching him in the act.

Judging from the labels and everything, I figured he was building a nuclear ICBM launch facility. The missiles being transported supported this. It was just like the third time I fought him. Ah, memories...

Well, time to stop wangsting over nostalgia. Time to kick a lizard's ass for the umpteenth time.

I ran up to the tower, and yelled up to Xana.

"**HEY, OIL BREATH! **Guess who?", I yelled.

He turned around, and his otherwise happy expression melted into slightly stoic anger almost instantaneously.

"Oh...it's you again. I figured you'd show up again.", he said, clearly pissed that I'm about to mess up his salad again.

"When do I not show up? I practically have to! You're trying to set nuclear fire to my city!" I yelled, raising my tone of voice further.

"That's the idea! You destroyed my nuke facility the third time we dueled! I figured I could do it again!", Xana yelled back to me.

"Yeah, don't bet on it...", I said, pulling out my assault rifle. I begin running up the tower's unfinished frame. A small yellow laser was following me...and then I dove for cover as the laser became a huge laser beam. I looked to the sky and saw a large satellite looking directly at me.

Son of a bitch. He had a satellite laser. Not a regular one, but a sentient one. He knew I'd try to climb this to reach him. Not only was the laser going to be a problem, but I had to watch out for the workers throwing large flammable barrels, and ones with guns. They weren't nearly as durable as the Clockwork Knights Xana sent after me, but they still took a few shots before going down.

It was hell getting up the tower. Between the satellite laser and the workers, it was a death sentence.

At last, I got up the tower. Xana was waiting there with his capsule.

"Damn it! I was hoping the laser would've finished you!" Xana said, almost enraged.

"Boo-hoo, reptile brains. I hope you still got what it takes to fight.", I shot back.

"Trust me, I have upgraded this thing to have more weapons in addition to the ones it currently has!" Xana said, as he jumped into his newly upgraded capsule.

It floated up off the ground and sprouted extra thrusters and guns. This wasn't going to be that easy.

[BOSS: Xana Capsule IV Modified Version 2.0]

Xana opened the battle up by firing the two side guns. Both whizzed past the sides of my head as I dodged. He followed up with a blast from the center cannon. I had to simply roll out of its way to avoid it.

Then Xana fired the two homing missiles. Not good. I shot one down quickly, and hopped on the other one, steering it around like I was some sort of bizarro space cowboy. I nailed the capsule with the missile as I jumped off. It damaged the capsule a slight bit, but not enough to totally incapacitate it temporarily.

Xana was persistent, as was I. He backed out of the action to sic some more workers on me. Too easy, I said, and I peppered each one without missing a beat.

I did not see the capsule careening towards me with its thrusters doing overtime though, and it managed to knock me to my feet for a follow-up.

The satellite laser was aimed directly over my forehead, but I knew that it would do more than destroy my head. Xana was about to make a second pass, and the laser was about to fire again. I just had to move at the right time...

That's when Xana made the second pass. The laser fired, as I rolled out of the way as both were about to make contact. The laser ended up hitting Xana, as expected. Now it was totally charred, and almost out of commission.

At this point, Xana was pissed as all hell, and started to use plenty of bullets. I returned fire and kept at it with burst fire, to get maximum accuracy. At last, it was damaged enough to the point where Xana was forced to eject from the pod.

Xana growled in anger. "You will pay for this, Brandon. You. Will. PAY.", he said as he flew off.

I hated to leave him to escape, but his satellite laser was of more concern. It would blast Brandonopolis to hell and back if given the chance. I looked around for anything that would be useful for getting me into space. My eyes set on the rather busted up capsule. I hopped into it and prayed to the gods and goddesses that it would work. Thankfully, it was saving grace when its engine roared to life. With weapons out,I headed into space to deal with the laser.

On the way there, I had to watch out for space junk and automated turrets. Apparently, Xana doesn't give a hoot if he pollutes, even in space. The turrets are hazardous enough, but when there's all of this crap floating around as you try to dodge shots, it can get pretty draining. Combine that with all the shots being fired by the satellite, and I can say that it was like combining Asteroids with DoDonPachi. I did manage to shoot out the turrets and destroy most of the space junk, but amongst it were some mines. Xana really wanted this to be my last breath. Too bad for him; he's crap out of luck, my friends.

The satellite laser, as expected, was larger up close. However, its laser did not fire when I was close up to it. It did have plenty of turrets and stuff on it too, so I had to work at it to compact it into space debris.

Eventually, there was almost nothing left of it. My work was done here. I was about to move along until I heard the remains of the satellite speaking.

"**WARNING. WARNING. SATELLITE LASER HAS BEEN TERMINATED. ACTIVATING TEMPORAL WARP GENERATOR."**

Uh oh.

A large turquoise portal then opened up and sucked in the remains and the capsule that I was in. I couldn't eject myself from the capsule, or else my head would've popped like a blood filled balloon. I was just supposed to sit there and accept my fate as the portal pulled me in.

It was not a pleasant time. I was tossed around like a ragdoll, and I ended up hitting the eject button, launching me out into the warp.

I floated through for what seemed like hours, and I could breathe fine. The only real question I could ask at that point was:

"Where am I going?"

I was worried for two reasons. One is that I won't see Brandonopolis for a while. Two is that I was afraid that, wherever I was going, I would end up attracting the Villain's Alliance and risk other lives.

Soon,I found that the warp was going vertically now...and I was falling.

Screaming bloody murder, I was met with open air, falling thousands of feet to my doom. I had forgotten my jetpack, so I had no way to save myself from the inevitable crash landing.

The clouds eventually gave way to a small archipelago of islands off the eastern coast of Asia. It then hit me that I was heading for Japan. Well, alarmingly fast, but I was heading for it nonetheless.

I soon found out that my exact location was gonna be Odaiba. Then, finally, after several minutes of falling thousands of feet, I painfully landed on top of a car. That's when I blacked out.

I swore my body was on fire from the pain and impact of the landing. It was no joke, it really, really hurt. And I'm supposed to take pain like this often. This isn't a fight, though.

Several minutes later, I finally came around. The first thing I noticed is that I was bleeding badly from the impact. Well, would YOU like it if you fell onto a car with the force of a train going 500 miles per hour? Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but it felt like what I said.

The second thing I noticed that there nine kids all around the chaos. News reporters were filming my accident, and I still felt quite sore from the impact.

The kids were all different, and they weren't anyone I've ever seen before. One had the spikiest hair I've ever seen, and had a pair of goggles. It makes me wonder if he ever uses them, if at all.

Another one had similarly spiky hair, but a green shirt, and looked more along the lines of the cool foil of a group. I'm just hoping he's not emo. Then again, I'm being an asshole.

The third one was a girl, but at the time, I couldn't tell. She looked to be a tomboy. The only way I knew she was a girl was that I noted her eyelashes through my blurred vision.

The fourth one was, honestly, shorter than the rest. He was, like, a head shorter, but he had a laptop. I guess he's a brainiac.

The fifth one was definitely a girl, because I could tell the iota of pink she wore from the others. What was with that cowboy hat, though?

The sixth one looked like a geek. He had a fist aid kit, and was trying to patch me up a bit, though he looked a bit nervous. I was afraid he'd botch the job.

The seventh child looked like the youngest of the group. He was looking at me with worry, and was rather close to the cool looking guy. I figured they were brothers.

The last two looked like regular humans...sort of.

They all shared the same concern, it seemed. They all looked worried...and then they began carrying me to god knows where. It hurt like hell, and I blacked out once again.

About a half hour later, I woke to them again, this time, in what looked to be a summer camp infirmary. At that moment, I could only ask myself "why did they take their time to save me"?

That's when one of them began to speak with me.

"You okay, buddy? You were pretty banged up when we saw you in that car crash.", the goggle boy said.

"You were bleeding quite a bit. The impact must've been really hard for that to happen.", the cool guy said.

"Ugh...I still feel sore..." I barely muttered.

I tried to move, but the guy with the glasses stopped me before I did too much.

"Hold on! You're not completely healed. It'll be a bit longer before you'll heal completely.", the guy with the glasses said.

I sighed. "Thanks... But...why did you help me out...?", I had said.

"We couldn't leave you out there to die. So we simply brought you back here to rest up.", the tomboy replied.

"Oh, you guys didn't have to...do...that."

My words slowed to a stop. What was I saying? I had been saved by these children.

They're my friends. I should be treating them as such.

"...wait. Forget what I had said. Thank you, guys."

They returned the favor. At last, a place where I felt normal for once.

If they knew where I came from or know what I can do...

Oh, don't worry about it. Give it some time, and I'll be better in no time.

Little did I know, I'd be forced to show my true power in two weeks time.

[END PROLOGUE]

Hope you liked this. I will continue working on this. This should hold you over until then.


	2. For The Digidestined, The Bell Tolls

Digimon Adventure: A Slightly Darker Retelling

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material in this story. All material belongs to their respective owners.

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Chapter 1: For The DigiDestined, The Bell Tolls

One Month Later... July arrives.

(Brandon's POV)

I was sound asleep in the summer camp cabin. Things have been peaceful the last month. No Xana, no Tukimahara, no Raquescter, no Disaster Troopers, nothing to bug me or-

****!

AAAAAAAH!

I shot up through the ceiling, as if I was a spring-loaded toy, and came crashing back down. What the hell was that noise?

"Time to get up, Brandon! We have a lot to do today!", one of the quote-unquote "regular" children I have met had said.

Enter Robert Willis, a friend of mine who has somehow ended up here the past few months. How he got here exactly is a question I might not figure out anytime soon.

Well, he was right. He had woken me up with an airhorn because it was time to get the boats set up for the canoe races.

I was looking around the camp to see where everyone has ran off to.

Taichi 'Tai' Kamiya/Yagami was in his usual spot in the tree. From what I have seen, he's a bit of a hothead, and I've seen him get into a couple of feuds with Matt. In those fights, he sure was courageous. Kind of reminds me of myself.

Speaking of whom, Yamato 'Matt' Ishida is indeed the cool foil of the group, but he has his colder side too. Like I said, he does have a few fights here and there with Tai. He was standing somewhere nearby the forest, presumably watching his brother. Even if he does fight with Tai, he still is pretty friendly to him and us afterwards.

Sora Takenouchi was also kind of doing her own thing. She's been quite nice to everyone, so she's something of a mother to us.

Koushiro 'Izzy' Izumi was using his laptop again, and I wasn't kidding when I predicted he'd be a brainiac. The kid can solve most math problems I'd have trouble with!

Mimi Tachikawa was looking to be out looking around for things for the canoe races, but it seems that she's minding her own business. I just hope she doesn't slack too much. Though she said she'd do it once she was finished with what she was doing, she seemed rather sincere about it.

Takeru 'T.K' Takaishi was, indeed, looking around in the grass. I never really did ask what he was looking for, but I assumed it was cool looking bugs, but he hopes to find something. Who knows? Matt is definitely keeping a close watch over him. I would too.

Joe/Jou Kido was running to the camp house to get some first-aid supplies, among other things. He is indeed a bit of a nervous wreck at times, but hey, he brought me back to health. He's pretty reliable, that's for sure.

Rob and his friend Marie were also about, getting everything ready for the canoe races. Not much else to say there.

I also heard Tai's sister was supposed to come, one Hikari 'Kari' Kamiya/Yagami, but she's out sick with the flu. I hope she gets better.

That's the whole role call. I was called over by Rob.

"Hey, Brandon, we need some more supplies for these canoes, and they are kind of falling apart. Can you head down to the camp house and get some for us?", Rob requested.

"No problem, buddy. I will get that stuff and we can begin.", I complied.

Off I went as fast as I could run without...you know, attracting attention to myself. Then again, my appearance was odd in and of itself, yet they never questioned it. Hm...maybe to be nice? I don't know.

I was on my way to the store, and passed Joe on the way there.

"Hey, where are you going? Going out of the campgrounds is off limits...", he said, a little nervous.

"Don't worry! I'm going to go get supplies for the canoe races! The canoes are a bit of a wreck and need some help!", I said, running to the store as I spoke.

"Okay, but don't be too long!", Joe replied.

I won't, I thought to myself. He's a bit of a worrywart, but it's not like he's too scared to wimp out.

At the store, I asked for the parts needed, and the clerk got them for me.

Hm...that's good, but I can make it better. I know I shouldn't do it, but god forbid if the others sink because something goes wrong. I left the campgrounds by super jumping away. Then, I disassembled some cars and stuff to make some pretty badass boats (leaving a bunch of IOU notes in the process).

At the risk of sounding like I'm a rulebreaker, these are meant to be better boats so that the kids don't have too much risk sinking or have an accident.

I soon returned to the campgrounds with boats in hand. Both hands. Yeah, I have super strength, wanna fight about it?

Anyways, I was mining my own business, until I felt something cold touch my skin and melt. Not much of a response, I just kept walking. Then another one got me. Then another...and another...

At first, I thought it was just rain. But no, rain never falls that slowly. I looked up, and saw what looked like white specks falling from the sky. And then it hit me.

Snow? In July? This stuff isn't supposed to happen until winter! Japan naturally snows, but not this early!

I simply tossed the boats behind me. If it was gonna snow, there was no need for them any more. They all landed rather loudly. Eh, doesn't matter. They're junked, and the ice if gonna render them moot anyhow.

I ran back to the group, and the place was already covered in snow, and it was quite cold. Brrrr...

Now I wish I would've brought something warm, but who am I kidding? No way anyone saw this coming.

Ah, well. Guess it's questioning time.

"Guys? What's going on? Why is it now snowing all of a sudden?", I asked.

"B-Beats m-me..." Joe said, shivering. I don't blame him. This weather is cold as hell.

"This is kind of cool, though! Let's go get our toboggans!" Tai said excitedly.

I decided not to say anything, but what? Toboggans? Who brings a toboggan to a summer camp? I don't know, but it might be a joke.

"Prodigious! Snow in July? A strange phenomenon indeed..." Izzy said.

There he goes in technobabble again. Nevertheless, we were all understandably confused about the sudden change in weather.

Then, out of nowhere, seven meteors drop out of the sky. Well...we thought they were meteors. They turned out to be small little devices.

"What are these things? They look like little games.", T.K wondered in amazement.

I had to agree. These things did look like those small electronic games, and those things alone reminded me of one of the oldest known handhelds, the Game and Watch.

"Is there an instruction manual to these?" Joe asked

Everyone had one, and we were all bewildered. Well, up until Tai freaked.

"Forget the instructions, SURF'S UP!", Tai screamed.

At first, I thought he was making a joke again, but this time he was being serious. A huge wave of water was coming, and it ended up sweeping away the group. I heard all of them screaming, and some, I swore, what was their last words. Quite a few of them were silly, but still, I was afraid that they were dead.

I won't deny that I freaked out. Well, what would happen if a wave the size of King Kong swept your friends away to god knows where? I looked to the skies again, and saw an Aurora Borealis. I'm not kidding. One of those, over Japan. This day couldn't be getting any weirder.

After that happened, only me, Rob, and Marie we're left behind. I was still in a bit of catatonic shock at what just happened.

"Wh-what was THAT?", I put it rather bluntly.

"I don't know... That was just weird...", Rob replied. Even he didn't know what had transpired in the camp today.

Marie just came back from repairing the boats, and she noticed that the others were suddenly absent.

"What'd I miss?" Marie said, wondering where everyone went.

"Oh, nothing, just missed our friends being swept away by a huge wave of water.", I snarked.

"Seriously?", she mused.

The Professor, the leader of the camp, ran over to see what was going on.

"Hello, kids! How are you doing?", he asked.

"Still in catatonic shock here, you mind?", I countered.

"...Where did everyone run off to?", he asked again.

"Uh, didn't I answer that question a few minutes ago? They got swept away by a massive wave of water! If I have to answer that again, I'm going to eat a knife.", I said, snarking tons.

"Oh...odd. Well...I suppose I'll see you kids later.", The Professor said again.

A young man with blue hair...seriously, go along with it...runs up to the Professor to tell him something.

"Wait! Professor! I wanted to tell you something!", the boy said.

"What is it, Ken?", The Professor wondered.

Enter Ken Ichouji. I don't know much about him yet, but he gives off a mysterious vibe at times. Sometimes, it borders on a tear jerker level.

"I got moved to this group, see?", Ken said as he showed him the paperwork.

The Professor scanned them over and gave his approval.

"Ah, thank you, Ken. Do you guys mind showing him around while I set things up for the summer? It would be much appreciated."

And he just simply walked off. I was quick to express my disapproval at the dismissal of the disappearance of the group by way of mini-tsunami.

"Uh, _**HELLO? **_We've got a Code Red emergency here, you fool!", I yelled at him, pissed off at his apparent doctrine of 'ignorance is bliss'.

"What happened to them?", Ken asked.

Honestly, I didn't feel like talking, because the Professor was more concerned about something else and not the disappearance of his camp students. Yet, I calmed down just enough to explain to him.

"The now frozen water hanging off the trees should speak for itself, really. They got taken away by a giant wave of water. I'm sick and tired of this being a Cassandra Truth.", I said, my anger still to the boiling point.

"But, where are they now? Like, Tai, Sora, Matt, Mimi, T.K, Joe, Izzy, and Kari?", Ken asked, pushing another question.

Ugh...Priest in a handbasket. I'm about ready to stick this kid in a meat flavored sack and throw him to the wolves. That's just my anger, though.

"I can't answer all of that save Kari. Kari is out sick, and has not been able to come.", I answered back.

"Oh. Damnit. If everyone else is gone, how am I supposed to get to the Digital World?", Ken muttered.

Digital World? I was getting curious now. Rob was too, as he responded.

"What is the Digital World? Is it like a video game?", Rob asked.

"Why should you know? Who are you guys?", Ken defended. He knew something from the way he acted that moment.

My problems were just beginning, though...

(Out of POV)

Meanwhile, in outer space, a space station floats high above Earth's atmosphere. Another planet is somewhere near it...and it's not Mars. Or the Moon. It's size is parallel to Earth's. Xana sits in his chair in front of his equipment, overlooking the two children confronting Ken about this "Digital World".

Xana's plan was about to be set in motion. He was monitoring the whole ordeal, and saw that the wave worked as planned. He also took note of the others still standing there.

"The kid knows much about what is currently under my thumb. But he is not integral to my plot.", Xana said, onlooking.

"It's the other three that should be put out into the Digital World. The blue haired one seems to know a bit about the Digital World...but I don't know why."

"Never mind. It's about time to set this train into motion." He used the touch-screen monitors to select his course of action.

"Activate temporal warp generator. Target the three children down at the summer camp in Japan."

"Compliance.", said a computerized voice.

Most any given time, Xana's a bumbling fool...but with the right motivation, enough time, or enough anger, Xana is just as competent as the next guy.

(Brandon's POV)

Still trying to get an answer out of Ken about what he knows, I failed to notice the temporal warp opening right behind me.

Eventually, I turned around, and saw the portal I came to know and fear.

"Oh, damn! RUN IF YOU CAN!", I yelled to the others.

We tried, but the suction of the portal kept increasing.

Ken was almost going to go...until a boxing glove punched him right back out of it again. Marie ended up getting sucked in.

"Why?", she yelled as she went in.

Although it would be inevitable either way, I clamped onto the ground very firmly.

Rob was running as fast as he could, bless his heart, and almost made it to safe ground...until the portal caught him up and pulled him in.

"NOOOOOOOOO!", screamed Rob as he was pulled in.

"ROB!", I yelled.

I continued to hold on, but it got just too powerful for me to hold on anymore. The ground I was holding onto was beginning to wear and tear, a clear sign that the portal wouldn't close until it had me too.

"Oh...blast me for being a coward!", I said, deciding once again to accept my fate and let myself be sucked in at last.

The portal's door ended up disappearing, as if it wasn't even there at all. The Professor probably won't even question it.

I was tossed around in the portal like I was a toddler's plaything. And the portal, once again, opened to thin air. Rob and Marie were nowhere to be seen. And me being without my jetpack...well naturally, I plummeted to the ground.

Again, my response went anything but beyond screaming. Try falling from a great height and see how fun it is to not have a parachute. I guarantee, you will be pitied.

Once I hit the ground, I naturally blacked out in response to the severe pain rushing through my body. I may be able to take punishment, but I am not a masochist. I did NOT enjoy it at all.

I didn't wake up for several minutes...and in that time, the group was re-grouping...

(Tai's POV)

Wow...what a landing. I can't believe that wave somehow swallowed us up.

"Tai...Tai...", a voice said. I woke up.

Mmm...yeah, I'm okay...

Well, I woke up, and on my stomach was a weird pink thing! I flipped out!

"AAH! That is the _last_ time I eat camp food!", I said, frantically getting away from this weird new creature.

Honestly, I had no idea what it was, but quickly bounced towards me happily.

"Tai, there's no need to be scared of me! I'm your friend, I'm your friend, I'm your friend!", the pink bouncy thing said playfully.

I wasn't exactly sure whether to take its word, but I decided to reply.

"Just what are you, anyway? Have you had your rabies shots?", I asked. The second question was a bit of a stretch. I don't think it even heard of them!

"Everything's going to be all right now, Tai! I've been waiting for you!", it said as it jumped into my arms.

"Waiting for me?", I said, utterly confused. What did this thing have to do with me?

"My name is Koromon. And we're...PARTNERS!", it happily said.

"Koromon? That means...Talking Head?" Okay, now I was officially weirded out.

Koromon nodded, but probably not in agreement.

"It means Great Little Warrior, and don't you forget it, Tai!", Koromon replied.

Okay...that one sailed over my head the first time. I'll remember that.

"So...what did you mean by 'you were waiting for me'? And how did you know my name?", I asked him.

I didn't realize that Izzy was not far behind until he called to me.

"Tai?" Izzy answered to me.

"Izzy, that you?" I answered. It was indeed him. I wondered if he had the same thing happen to him?

"It's me. And I've got this pink thing following me everywhere!" Izzy said. Yup, sure enough, a small pink ghost looking creature with bug eyes was following him.

"It is me, Motimon, at your service! Anyone want lunch?", the creature said.

Again, I freaked. I wasn't used to this at all! These guys were coming out of the woodwork! In the process, though, I dropped Koromon.

"Another one? What are they?" That summed my feelings up perfectly. _What _were they really?

"Oh! Allow me to introduce myself! My friends call me Motimon! Everyone does, actually!", Motimon replied.

Izzy walked up behind him. "I believe those miniature digital gadgets take on an actual lifeform. But I don't remember anything like this in the camp brochure." Izzy said.

"Ya think? It's weird..." I replied. It's rather obvious otherwise, since we weren't in Odaiba anymore...

"The vegetation is lush, but the soil is rather common..." Izzy explained about the surrounding environment. He always finds something to talk about.

"Nothing's common in DigiWorld!" Motimon responded.

"Huh?"

"That's right, Tai! You're in the DigiWorld!" Koromon followed after.

So that's it. We're not just not in Japan anymore, but not even _**on Earth**_.

"And...just where is the DigiWorld?" I wondered.

"Eh, I don't care so much about where it is...as much as I care about _what_ it is..." Izzy said. He wondered more about what it was, not where we were. It worried me a little.

I decided that Izzy wasn't going to be much help.

"Guess I'll go take a look for myself..." I said, a bit exasperated. I just wanted to find out where we were and get home. Izzy may have been thinking the same thing, but I highly doubt he was that gung-ho to leave yet.

I clumb to the top of a large, tall tree, pulled out my binoculars, and began looking. The sounds of the jungle filled the air as I did. The first thing that caught my eye was the ocean. What was that doing there? The camp was nowhere near it! And I sure didn't remember mountains being there too.

Hm. Something tells me that the compass won't help much now. Koromon had bounced up into the tree after me. He was wondering if I saw anything yet.

"Hey, Tai, what do you see?" Koromon wanted to know.

"Nothing I recognize..." There were no buildings for miles. There was a city off in the distance, but I doubted that we would even get that far. Then I happened to look up and see something of interest.

"Wait, what's that?" Something flying overhead caught my eye. It looked like a giant red beetle...AND IT'S HEADED STRAIGHT AT US!

Both me and Koromon hung from the branches to avoid getting hit by the rather angry bug.

Izzy and Motimon watched with shock and horror. "Oh, I can't watch! That is one seriously bad Digimon, even when he's in a good mood!" Motimon chattered fearfully.

"That's just great." Izzy said with a similar level of fear.

The beastly insect made a u-turn and went for another pass. Koromon was quick to explain what it was, but not before giving me a heads up.

"His name is Kuwagamon! He is an insectoid Digimon. Vicious and ruthless, with teeth like knives and scissorhands that can chomp through anything!"

"Who needs a gardener?" I said as it made a second pass at the tree.

Koromon wasn't going to let it fly, however. He leapt from the tree and fired...bubbles? They hit Kuwagamon, and it sort of disoriented him, but it knocked Koromon out of the way and hit the tree, knocking me out of it. I hit the dirt hard, as Izzy ran up to me.

"Tai, are you okay?" Izzy said.

"Yeah, I've had better days!", I replied.

A few seconds after, Koromon landed as well.

"Little guy! You should pick on bugs your own size! What's your name? Koromon?" I said as I walked over and picked him up.

"That's me." Koromon said, a bit battered, but still okay.

"You're pretty brave, for a little guy. I'm impressed." I chuckled and nodded.

Koromon smiled back at me. "It was nothin'."

That all familiar roar was getting louder again. Kuwagamon was making another pass, and Izzy was quick to warn us.

"Uh, Tai? He's heading this way again!" Izzy panicked.

"Oh dear, oh dear! Quickly everyone! This way!" Motimon signaled to us. He apparently knew a way to escape.

"Come on!" I didn't need to be told twice. We ran as fast as we could as Kuwagamon tore down quite a few trees to get at us.

"Hurry up! For a couple of people with long legs, you guys are really slow!" Motimon said. We were running as fast as we could!

Motimon stopped in front of a tree. I thought he was crazy.

"Quick, inside this tree!" Motimon said, then disappeared into the tree trunk.

At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I decided not to waste more time. I grabbed Izzy by the arm and hid inside the tree.

We were a bit surprised that the inside looked nothing like the outside. It was metallic and shaped like an egg.

"What kind of tree is this...?" Izzy questioned. I understand, he was perplexed too.

"It's a hiding tree, silly!" Motimon said. I hope he realized that this was not the time to be making jokes.

We hunched down, holding our hands over our heads in fear.

"Quiet...don't make a sound!" Izzy said. He was right; if that thing knew we were here, he'd mince us with little effort.

We waited...and eventually, the roaring died down. We slowly got up...and a familiar voice sounded just outside the tree.

"All clear! No need to hide anymore!", the voice said.

We left the safe confines of the tree to find that Sora was out there.

"You can come out now." Sora chided.

"Oh, we were just planning the trap we were going to set for that big bug!" I said, even though it was a bald faced lie.

I looked down to the ground. Another of those creatures again. This one sort of looked like a walking flower.

"I am enchanted to meet you, friends of Sora. Welcome.", the pink creature said. How many pink things can we get?

"Tai, Izzy, meet Yokomon. My own personal something-or-other.", Sora said, introducing us to her own creature.

"Looks kind of like a radish." I said. Trust me, it was true.

"It must be another one of them...well...whatever they are." Izzy replied.

A small white-ish quadrupedal creature scampered in front of Motimon and Koromon. It had long ears and a cat like mouth with small little teeth.

"Uh oh." I said. Another one. Jeez.

"They're popping up everywhere." Izzy said, also amazed.

"Hello. I am Tokomon.", the small quadruped said.

Tokomon then looked off to its left. "Hey, T.K! Over here!"

"Coming!" T.K's voice rang out. "Tokomon, there you are!"

Of course, wherever T.K goes, it's a safe bet that his brother is not far behind.

"T.K!", Matt said, not wanting him to wander off.

"Hey, Matt! You too?" I said.

"Yeah, I'm here." he replied.

"No! I mean that under your arm!" I said, getting him to direct his attention to the thing with the horn.

"Oh. This guy? Yeah, well..." Matt said, trailing off oddly.

"Hello. You appear pleasant.", the creature with the huge horn said. "Tsunomon is my name, and I am quite pleased to meet you."

Well, he was polite, not like the huge bug that followed us. That's a good thing.

T.K was cuddling Tokomon happily. He seemed to like him. All of a sudden, we heard screaming...familiar screaming. It was Joe, and he was running for his life.

"Joe?" I said, concerned.

"HELP ME! This thing...this thing...**pant pant**...it won't leave me alone!" Joe said, now out of breath.

A small, brown fish creature came up behind him and clung to his shoulder.

"Who're you calling a thing? I'm not a stuffed animal! The name is Bukamon." the fish like creature said.

Joe was terrified, as it laughed clinging to his shoulder. He looked at us in terror, noticing that we had similar creatures.

"W-what's wrong with you guys? Can't you see this creature hanging off of me? Or those other creatures standing right there? WHUH? They're...they're everywhere! What are they?"

Boy, I can sympathize. I wasn't sure what to make of these things either. Bukamon hopped off of Joe's shoulder to demonstrate something.

"We're..." Bukamon began to say...

"Digimon! Digital Monsters!", all of them said in unison.

"Digital Monsters?" I was bewildered.

"Yes! Digimon!", they all said again.

A bit later, they were talking with us.

"We're not just digital monsters, we're also...kind of cute!" Koromon said. Now that I think back on it, he was kind of cute. Most of them are.

"And _very_ loyal.", Tsunomon said. I can agree. Koromon sure saved my bacon back there.

"With beautiful hair!" Yokomon said. Depends on what you mean by hair, but I do agree.

"Or no hair at all!" Motimon said. Uh...yeah. I guess that works too.

"We can be funny! Haaaa!" Bukamon said. I do agree. They can be rather goofy at times.

"And...adorable!" Tokomon capped. Well, of course, but Koromon kinda beat you to the punch.

"It's nice to meet each of you! My name is Tai, and these are my friends from camp." I introduced.

"I'd like you to meet Sora."

"Nice place you got here. Except for the bugs.", she said. Brutal honesty. I can relate.

"And the self-proclaimed cool one over there is Matt."

"No autographs, please.", he said. He loves to joke like that. He's an asshole, and we love him for it.

"And this is Joe..."

"I'd shake hands...if you had any." Some do, and some don't, I suppose.

"Izzy here is our computer expert."

"Do you have internet access?" First thing he says is that. A possibility, but not likely.

"And last but not least, this little guy is...uh..." I never really got to learn his name that well.

"T.K. Call me T.K. And I'm not as small as I look." Ah, there we go.

"There. Is that everybody?", I finished.

"Hey, where'd that girl with the funny pink hat go?", Sora wondered.

"Now, now...her name is Mimi." I said.

"Well...perhaps she is off picking flowers. Or going on a nature hike." Izzy inquired.

We heard her yelling not too far away. Izzy was way off.

"AAAAAAAAH! Somebody help me!" Mimi yelled.

"Come on!" I said.

"Okay...so she's not picking flowers." Izzy said as we ran to her.

We reached a clearing, and she was nowhere to be found.

"Mimi? Where are you?" I called.

She came running from the woods with the last Digimon in tow.

"There she is!" Sora said.

"Mimi, it's okay!" Little did I know that it was **not** okay. That giant bug turned up again.

"It's that giant bug again!" I said. It dove for us and missed us, clipping two trees.

Mimi was on her knees, tired and frightened.

"Mimi, are you alright?", the Digimon with a sprout on her head asked.

"Think so...", Mimi replied.

"Don't worry. Tanemon is here to protect you.", the Digimon said.

Sora walked up to her and comforted her. "It's okay now."

"Oh, Sora..." Mimi replied.

We weren't safe yet. That beetle dove into the forest and began to rush at us.

"Watch it, here he comes!" I said in a panic.

"RUN!", Sora yelled. We didn't need a reminder. We ran for our lives. But wait...where did that stickman kid go? I haven't seen him, Rob, or Marie since we got here!

(Brandon's POV)

Ugh...that's another landing I've had to suffer. Well...no time to lay around...time to move.

I wonder where those other two went...Rob and Marie?

I better not think on it too much. Man...I really hurt. At least I didn't land on a car this time.

That's when I heard roaring. Dinosaur? Maybe. I don't know. I was looking around, and I heard my friends screaming.

They were in trouble...and it was about time that I repaid them for helping me one month ago.

I began to move towards the commotion and...CRAP!

Damn. Militia. And not just any regular militia...Xana militia. Great. Guess Xana is here for the occasion.

I saw a jeep with a turret nearby, but a couple dozen militia stood between me and it. Not too bad, but not a cakewalk either. I might take a few bullets here and there.

Stealth was gonna be a no-go. The soldiers were packed too tightly together. If I hit one with a tranquilizer dart, the others will find me. Either way, I wasn't going to be able to pull this off without getting caught.

So, I simply pulled out my Angel Material Sniper, put in some explosive rounds, and fired at one. Almost all of his upper half went bye-bye immediately. The soldiers took notice and came after me, as expected. I had to pull out my M16 assault rifle and deal with them all. Most fell to the bullets, but some shots missed. Oh well, I needed one alive for the jeep anyways.

I snapped some necks, shot up some more goons, and finally, only one was left.

He put away his gun and stood with arms outstretched over his pockets. A one-on-one gun duel.

I put away my assault rifle, and centered my hand over my desert eagle, the Bloody Rose.

"DRAW!" As soon as I heard that, my instincts kicked in. I quickly pulled my gun out of my pocket, as did he. Instead of outright shooting him, I shot his gun out of his hand. I had to be _really_ careful to make that shot.

Now with his hand bleeding, I walked up to him and put the barrel of my gun to his forehead. He was visibly frightened.

"Pal, if you know what's good for you, get that Jeep started, and get me over to my friends, ASAP."

The militia soldier was at my mercy, and he knew that if he were to betray me, he'd surely be shot dead. So, he simply complied, turning the jeep on. I hopped into the back seat with the turret, ready to blast the hell out of the threat. We sped off into the forest.

But Xana was prepared this time. I should have been on guard.

(Out of POV)

The dastardly lizard was watching the carnage unfold, and was not pleased when he saw his soldier carting Brandon to the fight with Kuwagamon.

"Well then... Fine. If you want to play rough, let's play rough.", he said, focusing attention on the giant angry beetle.

He waited for the right time though.

(Brandon's POV)

Things were running smoothly for us. We were moving along at a nice pace, and for sure, we would make it to the threat in no time flat.

However, I saw something ahead. It was Rob and Marie, and they were fighting off militia too.

"Guys! Man, am I glad to see you!" I said.

They finished the last of the militia. "Hey, Brandon. Did you see that giant bug? It's attacking the others."

Giant bug? Were we even in Japan anymore? Probably not.

"I heard roaring. And that came from said bug?" I asked, a little confused.

"Yes, it did! Now come on! We have to go save them." Marie replied.

No need to repeat it. I was aware of the threat now. I told the militia to scram, and he decided to do so because it'd probably be more worthwhile for him.

We sped towards the threat at last.

(Tai's POV)

Well...end of the line. We;re now stuck at this cliff, and there's nothing but us and the ocean. I guess this was it for us.

"There's no way down! We'll have to find some other way!" I said, a little worried.

"Another way where? There is no other way!" Sora said.

Kuwagamon came crashing through the trees as the others ran for it. I ducked to avoid the inevitable slice. It made yet another pass at me, but Koromon intervened.

"Here I go!" Koromon said as he jumped forward and blew more bubbles. Kuwagamon was disoriented, but he successfully knocked Koromon out of his way.

"Not again!" I shouted.

Kuwagamon continued to fly towards the rest of the group.

"Digimon, ATTACK!" Yokomon yelled, as all the Digimon flew at Kuwagamon and spit more bubbles at him. Despite the fact that they were knocked out of the way too, it caused Kuwagamon to crash into the forest, putting him out, if only for a bit.

The Digimon lay all round us, all knocked unconscious. We feared that they were dead.

I held Koromon in my hands, worried for his life.

"Koromon! Are you crazy? Why'd you do it?" I asked him. He came to and replied.

"Sorry. It's just that...I'm trying to make a good impression.", he said.

"Crazy guy..." I responded. I couldn't believe he was sacrificing himself for my safety. Another pass like that, and he would be...

The others ran up to their respective Digimon.

"Oh...Yokomon..." Sora said.

"Tanemon, please talk to me..." Mimi said after.

"They must be programmed for courage..." Izzy said.

"Tokomon, what's wrong?" T.K said.

"Hey, Tsunomon, wake up!" Matt said.

"Bukamon...wake up!" Joe said last.

Kuwagamon roared again. I swear, that bug just won't stay down.

Then...we heard gunfire. From the forest burst a jeep carrying Brandon, Rob, and Marie...followed by Kuwagamon.

"Eat lead, you bastard!" Brandon yelled, manning the turret.

Kuwagamon was slightly gunned, and he smacked the jeep out of the way. They went flying and were knocked out.

"Aw shi..." Brandon had said before going out cold. I've never known him to use a gun before!

"Get ready to run..." I said. Koromon and the other Digmon had different plans, though.

"No! We fight!" Koromon said. I thought he was crazy. There was no way he'd be able to take one more attack.

"It's the only way. Stand and fight!"

"Give it up, will ya?" I said back. I wasn't sure how we'd get out of this one. Our Digimon would probably fight and die trying to. And Brandon, Rob and Marie were out cold...and we didn't have a weapon on us that would help in the matter.

Motimon was struggling to leave Izzy's grip. "No, Koromon's right! It's time to show him what we are made of!" Motimon said.

"No, don't!" Izzy protested.

"He's right!" Yokomon said, looking at the incoming Kuwagamon.

"No way! It's hopeless! You're no match for him, Yokomon!" Sora also protested.

"We can do it! ..." Tsunomon said, struggling to leave Matt's grip.

"Letmedoitletmedoitletmedoit..." Tokomon said, his sharp teeth out and raring to bite Kuwagamon a new one.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Bukamon said, with Joe holding him back too.

"Tanemon...you too?" Mimi asked.

"Uh-huh." Tanemon agreed.

"I'm sorry, Tai. Let's go!" Koromon said, as all of them escaped our grip.

They all ran towards the raging Digimon...presumably to their doom.

We all yelled for them to not fight him, but it was too late. They were already in motion.

"NO! DON'T! KOROMON! COME BACK!" I yelled. I didn't realize something amazing was about to happen.

On our belts, our digital things began to glow!

Then, our Digimon were enveloped in a colorful light...and began to transform!

Koromon Digivolve to...

Agumon!

Yokomon Digivolve to...

Biyomon!

Motimon Digivolve to...

Tentomon!

Tsunomon Digivolve to...

Gabumon!

Tokomon Digivolve to...

Patamon!

Bukamon Digivolve to...

Gomamon!

Tanemon Digivolve to...

Palmon!

It all happened so fast...when the light disappeared, the Digimon were in completely new forms!

"What the-? What happened to the little guys?" Sora said.

"They're...bigger!" I replied. Well...besides that, they looked nothing like their previous forms.

The newly evolved Digimon jumped at Kuwagamon, but were swatted down once again.

"Okay, you asked for it!" I think it was...Agumon? Yeah, he said it.

Kuwagamon was about to fly again, but they were a little more prepared this time...

"POISON IVY!", the formerly known Tanemon said...I think it's Palmon now. Her fingers extended and wrapped around one of his feet, preventing him from lifting off.

Then the former Tokomon...I believe he's Patamon now...flies up and does his attack.

"BOOM BUBBLE!" He inflated and spit out a large ball of air which struck Kuwagamon and caused him to be dazed.

Then the former Motimon...Tentomon...flew up too and also attacked.

"SUPER SHOCKER!" He unleashed a stream of electricity on the oversized insect, but it didn't look like it was affecting him much. He did stumble a bit, which gave the new Bukamon...or Gomamon time to slip under his feet and knock him to one knee.

"Stand back, everyone! PEPPER BREATH!" Agumon said as he unleashed a fireball from his mouth. It hit Kuwagamon squarely in the head.

"BLUE BLASTER!" Gabumon yelled as he unleashed a blue freezing stream from his mouth.

"SPIRAL TWISTER" Biyomon unleashed a green tornado. Both attacks hit, and caused the fire to spread on Kuwagamon's face.

By this time, Brandon and the other two were coming around, but we didn't know at the time.

Kuwagamon roared in fury as the Digimon grouped together.

"Okay, all together!" Agumon said. They all unleashed their attacks on Kuwagamon, who burst into flames immediately afterward.

We were shocked. These seven Digimon just defeated a large bug Digimon.

"They made VaporWare out of him..." Izzy said, just as stunned as ever.

"Amazing!" I said. We all were amazed.

"Told you we could do it!" Agumon said as he ran towards us with the other Digimon.

"Koromon! Or Agumon, whoever you are! You did it, you did it!" I said happily.

We were all happy to see that they made it out alright.

At this point, Brandon came around.

"Oh, man...that was not cool." He said as he stood up. Then he looked at us...and then the Digimon...and promptly freaked out.

"AAAAAH! WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?" He said, and pulled out an assault rifle.

Oh, jeez. I need to calm him down.

"Whoa! Don't worry, Brandon! They are our friends! They're not here to hurt us!" I said, trying to get him to take the gun off of the Digimon.

"Really? Then how does that explain the giant bug?" He replied, still antsy.

"That one was a bad one! It didn't care whether we were alive. It just wanted us...dead." I replied.

"Oh..." He put away his gun. "Sorry about that."

"No harm done, thankfully." Had I not told him otherwise, we would've been peppered.

(Out of POV)

The children were glad that the giant threat known as Kuwagamon was downed.

But...was he for good?

Not quite... For an orange lizard came down in a capsule to see that this thing rise again.

"Hm...you've been beaten up a bit. No matter. I'll make some adjustments...here, and here..." He began to take matters into his own hands. He rebuilt Kuwagamon, giving him cybernetics and new weapons.

Kuwagamon was reborn.

The children heard roaring once again. He was back and worse than ever.

"No way! We celebrated a bit early!" Tai said, still wondering why Kuwagamon was still not out yet.

"Wait...what in the world?" Rob said.

The roar sounded more mechanical, and the air stunk with the smell of pollution.

"What is that smell?" Tai said, holding his hands over his mouth and nose.

Everyone agreed. They did the same thing, clearly not wishing to die from pollution exposure.

Then Kuwagamon rose from the forest. This time, however, he had shiny new metal plating. His wings were now a jetpack in the form of wings. He had weapons replacing most of his hands, and his scissorhands on his mouth were real blades.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha!", a familiar laugh rung out from the forest.

"Oh, no... I know that laugh from anywhere." Brandon said.

"Who?" Izzy asked.

Just after the new Kuwagamon made his appearance, a purple pod with eyes ends up walking out of the forest. Inside is a giant orange lizard.

"...Him." Brandon said, not too happy.

"Ah, Brandon...it's been a while, hasn't it? Heh heh... I can see that you are angry at me for crashing your vacation, but I've been in this business for some time now." Xana said, rather smugly.

"Excuse me? What are you playing at here?"

"What's that? You don't know, do you? I can explain."

**FLASHBACK TIME**

**Two months earlier...**

**May 18, 2010**

_You see, it all began when I had found this world while experimenting with the temporal warp generator prototype. I was just putting the finishing touches on it, when suddenly, I accidentally turned it on and got sucked into the plane of reality known as the Digital World._

_I was surrounded by many of these creatures... It was fascinating. I thought I could fit in to the world, being a non-human individual..._

_...But once again, I was refused by the denizens of this world, because I was simply labeled as a freak of nature...just like years before in your own city._

_As a result, I decided to take my anger out on them...for even having the **balls** to do that._

_I have put together an ensemble of evil Digimon for my new army, harboring the same evil intentions as I. The power I hold over this world is something I could not have done otherwise in your world. Not only does my power now match yours, it also EXCEEDS it!_

[**END FLASHBACK**]

"I could've been a valuable asset to the world. But no, I was mocked for being a lizard of my caliber. And now I see that any world I come across will reject me no matter what else I were to do, for good or ill. Besides, this place is nothing but data. Nothing is real. But the rejection is." Xana finished.

"Just because you get rejected by society does not mean it's an excuse to act like an asshat. Now you wish to destroy this world too?" Brandon said, after the story.

Xana growled, at wit's end. "I suppose there's noting keeping me from killing you this time. Oh, and what's this? You have new friends along for the ride? How pleasant. I'll have them killed too."

"What? You can't! I won't let you!" Brandon said. He would defend them...even if it meant exposing them to his kept secret: the fact that he wasn't nearly as normal as they had thought. At this point, there was no point in keeping it a secret. He HAD to save them from Xana.

"Brandon, what is this about?" Mimi asked.

Brandon figured the others were thinking the exact same thing she was wondering. He knew that this would happen eventually, even if it wasn't until a month later. Now, he had to show his true potential...in front of his friends.

"...It's something I have to do on a regular basis. I'll explain later. Right now...I have to keep you guys from Death's Door." Brandon said, ready to duel with Xana, even if it meant he'd die.

"Fine. Have it your way. MechaKuwagamon, go and get them." Xana commanded. The robotic insect obeyed, and set its sights on the little stickboy.

"What are you doing? It almost killed us several times! And NOW you're going against it one on one?" Joe said, panic rising in his voice.

"...You ain't seen nothing yet, Joe." Brandon said. It was now or never.

[CHAPTER BOSS: MechaKuwagamon]

The robo-bug made its first move by spinning up its chaingun mounted on its shoulder. Brandon quickly blocked most of the shots, but suffered some wounds for how fast they came out. Brandon countered with a quick slash to its chest, causing it to bleed green blood and oil. It did not slow it down much, however.

It then slammed its laser ripper hand to the ground and fired in rapid succession. Brandon dodged like a maniac and shot it with one of his two Smith and Wesson revolvers, Ambassador Nebula. The bullet entered and exited through its stomach, and hit the tree behind it, narrowly missing Xana's Capsule.

Brandon popped off several more shots as it fired up its flamethrower, and unleashed it upon him. The heat was suffocating, and Brandon got burned a couple of times jumping over the stream of flame that emitted from the hellfire spewing contraption. Brandon tossed a throwing knife into the gasoline intake valve, and sliced the valve a bit, causing gasoline to spill out onto the ground next to MechaKuwagamon, and it kept spilling.

"Agumon! Use your Pepper Breath on that gasoline!" Brandon called to Tai's partner.

"I got it! Pepper Breath!" Agumon did the attack, and the gasoline caught fire, catching up to the flamethrower and ultimately making it explode. Shrapnel flew everywhere, and almost would have hit the children for sure, if not for Brandon taking it for them.

It shot a grenade from its grenade launcher in response. It clearly was not happy. Brandon had to think fast. He quickly made like a soccer player and punted it back into the sender's launcher, promptly making it explode.

"I need to disable each of its weapons. There has to be a core if I destroy all of them..." Brandon said, formulating the possibility of the weakness appearing should he destroy all of its weapons.

The laser ripper was next. "Tentomon! I need you to overload the-"

"Say no more, Brandon! I know what you wish for me to do!" Tentomon said, as he flew over to the mechanized Digimon. Brandon distracted it to make sure that it would not hurt Tentomon.

"Super Shocker!" He yelled, as he fired electricity at the laser ripper. It soon overloaded and exploded, leaving only one more target: the minigun on its shoulder.

It tried to punch Brandon with its only remaining arm, but he dodged and ran up its arm. The scissorhands, however, clipped one of his legs, and disabled it, preventing Brandon from moving quite as fast. Brandon had jumped for the chaingun, and could not afford to be split in half. He wrenched the gun off its shoulder forcefully, and fired madly at its head, nearly reducing it to the consistency of hamburger. He then jumped off...and yelled in pain when he landed on his bad leg.

However, the core did indeed open up once all the weapons were disabled.

"Okay, you guys! Give it everything you've got!" Brandon said, as the Digimon and Brandon focused their attacks on the newly exposed core coming from its chest.

Soon, MechaKuwagamon's core was decimated, and with one last roar, flew off and began to make a couple more passes in a last ditch attempt to kill both him and the children. He made one pass. Brandon shot his core a bit more with Bloody Rose, and it caused him to back off.

He then tried a second pass. Brandon no-sold it again by popping the core another time.

The third and final time, MechaKuwagamon utilized the speed it could get from its new wings and sped towards him one last time. Brandon quickly drew his M16 and fired away, in hopes the core would get hit once more. Brandon did successfully destroy the core's remains, and MechaKuwagamon careened over the cliff, barely missing the children, and into the water below. The great Kuwagamon was no more...and Xana was quick to express his disapproval.

"WHAT? You thrashed him that easily?" He yelled in rage, even though Brandon had taken some abuse during the fight.

"Dude. He was only the first fight, and you're getting pissed over the first boss' demise. How are you shocked? You sometimes served as such!" Brandon shot back.

"...Touche. Well, no matter. I'm still here, and I still have my capsule. Activate Walker Mode." Xana said. His capsule grew feet and landed on the ground. The fight was not over yet.

[PHASE 2: Xana Capsule Walker Mode]

The capsule's hands sprouted miniguns, and began firing them at Brandon. He had trouble dodging and blocking the shots because his leg got wounded in the previous fight. As a result, he got gunned a bit.

"NO! BRANDON!" Tai yelled.

"Stop it! Stop hurting him!" Sora cried.

"We can't stand around and watch, guys! Let's get him!" Agumon said as he and the others ran at Xana's Capsule-Walker.

Xana stops firing long enough for Brandon to run. "Oh? What is this? Those creatures want to fight me! Well then... EN GARDE!" Xana yelled, as he turned his focus on the Digimon. He spun up his chainguns and fired madly at the Digimon. They only got his a few times, but that's it.

"Now, fire!" Agumon yelled to the other Digimon.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Super Shocker!"

"Blue Blaster!"

"Poison Ivy!"

"Boom Bubble!"

"Marching Fishes!" (Yes, I made Gomamon's attack much less useless, by making it a projectile attack in combat. Go with it.)

All of the attacks hit Xana full force, damaging parts of the Capsule-Walker. The chainguns were damaged by all attacks, and could not fire properly now.

"Rrrrrgh. Guess it's time for some good old fisticuffs." Xana said, as he retracted the chainguns, and clenched the Walker's fists together. He ran at the Digimon and leapt into the air, crashing down with his fist outstretched. The Digimon barely had time to get out of the way, and were thrown backwards from the force of the impact.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon called, unleashing his attack a second time. It was simply batted away by Xana's Walker, as he charged them again and swung another fist their way. They dodged, as Patamon blew him over with another Boom Bubble, and Tentomon hit him with another Super Shocker.

By this point, Xana's Walker was about finished and so busted up that it was time to eject and take matters into his own meaty hands.

"If you want a problem solved, you have to do it yourself." Xana said to himself, as he hit the eject button, another copy of his fourth capsule out of commission.

[PHASE 3: Xana]

Now it was the Digimon versus Xana on his own, and Brandon's leg and various other injuries were still being tended to by Joe.

Xana drew his sword, the Bumper Blade, a sword forged out of various car parts, and raced at the Digimon. Gomamon slipped under his feet and tripped him up. He fell to the ground, but got right back up, pissed off as usual.

"Very cute, you little freaks!" Xana said. He then smacked Gomamon away with the side of his sword as if he was a golfer, and turned face to the other Digimon.

"Anyone else?" The Digimon attacked him, but he countered many of the attacks. Only Poison Ivy and Spiral Twister subdued him briefly.

He then came back around and beat the Digimon black and blue. The others watched in horror as this happened. Then Xana began walking over, and grabbed Brandon by the throat.

"Any last words before I make you breathe your last?"

Brandon did not answer. Instead, he pulled out Bloody Rose again and shot him in the eye.

"AAAAAAH! MY EYE! YOU SHOT ME IN THE EYE!", he screamed.

Brandon then followed up by smashing his face into his knee, then uppercutting him, and finally, using his famous Super Snap Powerbomb, floored Xana. Adrenaline was once again on his side. He walked back to the other children, who were utterly surprised.

"B-Brandon...how did you..." Tai stammered. He was shocked at how Brandon was fighting like this.

"...It's a long story." Brandon said.

"You...bastard..." Xana coughed. He had been beaten again, but he would not let them go that easily.

"I hope you all...suffer...a nice...watery...grave." Xana pulled out a remote and pushed the red button on it. Plastic explosives connected to the underside of the cliff detonated and sent the children plummeting to their doom below.

"Heh heh heh..." He managed to laugh, and ended up dying due to injuries sustained by his capsule's damage.

He would come back, however, and he wouldn't quit following them either.

The children eventually hit the water below and panicked.

"Help! I can't swim!" Joe said, in-between bobbing up and down in the water.

"Hang on, guys! Marching Fishes!" Gomamon called out, and an entire school's worth of fish arrived and formed a makeshift raft. The children all hopped on to save themselves from Xana's trap.

They were all panting. They didn't see that one coming.

"Man...what was that about? And where did you learn to fight like that?" Matt said.

"That was so cool!" T.K said, a bit overjoyed at Brandon's fight.

"Eh...it was nothing, really. I do that all of the time." Brandon replied, a bit exausted.

Then something in the water caught his eye. It was something green, and it shimmered in the sun.

"Hm... Is that... It is!" Brandon said, and snatched the foreign object right out of the water. It was a green diamond. "I lost these a while ago! They all must be here in this world! If I can get all of them, I might be able to defeat Xana!" Brandon said, excited.

"Uh, Brandon, I don't mean to seem a bit biased, but what is that thing?" Izzy asked.

"I'll tell you all about it soon. But first..."

The diamond flew up and spiraled around Brandon, as he too, floated up, and it culminated in him landing and catching it, holding it out like a prize, and doing the peace sign with his free hand, all with a big smile on his face.

**YOU GOT THE FIRST JUSTICE DIAMOND!**

**Collect each one after each main boss fight and use them to defeat Xana once and for all!**

Things go into a storybook style as curtains close around the frame.

**END OF CHAPTER 1**

**It was a strange day for the children of Odaiba Summer Camp. They dicovered the strange devices known as Digivices amid the snow covered ground, and got whisked away to a new world...the Digital World.**

**However, not even a few minutes into their stay, they encountered odd creatures known only as Digital Monsters, or Digimon for short. What turned into an akward situation turned into danger when the evil Kuwagamon appeared and chased the group all around the forest they found theirselves in.**

**The Digimon eventually digivolved into newer forms, and felled the dangerous foe...until Brandon's mortal enemy, Xana, took hold of the beast and transformed him into the powerful MechaKuwagamon.**

**The battle was long and tough, but eventually, the Digimon and Brandon prevailed over the large lizard. However, Xana was expecting that, and destroyed the part of the cliff they stood on. The children fell into the water below, but were saved by Gomamon's power.**

**Among the water and ruins of MechaKuwagamon floated the first of the eight Justice Diamonds, powerful artifacts Brandon uses to transform into his super mode. He just had to get seven more ****of them, and then he'd be able to beat Xana if the going got too tough.**

**But what awaited the group? Nobody knew, but there was a lot to go through before the quest was done and over with...**

Well, another chapter has been done away with. Thanks for reading.


	3. The Birth of Greymon

Digimon Adventure: A Slightly Darker Retelling

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><p><p>

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>Disclaimer: I do not own anything used here, except my own characters. All characters belong to their respective owners.<p><p>

Chapter 2: I'm Blue in Purgatory

Part 1: The Birth of Greymon

After Brandon got the first Justice Diamond, the children were simply floating lazily down the stream on a raft made of fishes. They were wondering why Brandon fought so well back at the cliff.

"Hey, Brandon, a quick question for back there on the cliff." Tai said after a few minutes of silence.

"Okay. Shoot." Brandon replied.

"How exactly did you learn to fight so well? You completely OWNED those guys!" Tai exclaimed.

Brandon looked a little uncomfortable when Tai asked. He was worried that people may be weirded out by his fighting prowess.

"...You want the whole story? Then I'll tell you as much as I can." Brandon said.

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><p><p>

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><strong>FLASHBACK TIME<strong>

_It all began when I was just a little nine year old in second grade. I was sound asleep in my house when...**BAM!** A large space ship landed in the backyard of our next door neighbors. I admit, I was a bit scared, but everyone else went out to observe it. I decided to go and see it myself._

_Although my parents protested against it, I checked it out. It certainly was large, that's for sure. I went inside of it, and there were four aliens out cold on the floor of the wrecked space ship. I found some broken stuff and, through a freak stroke of luck, I got it working again. The aliens woke back up and congratulated me on my work, and promptly put me to sleep._

_I woke back up minutes later. There were no major differences...save for the fact that I looked like what I envisioned myself as: a white stick person with an army helmet, brown shorts, and a double bandolier. That, and my imagination was now reality._

_I found my world two weeks after I had my change. I didn't see the aliens again for a while after that. I went down to the basement and found a door that was not originally there. I opened, and fell through it, being met with outer space._

_I landed on my planet not too soon after. I was in the middle of a desert, with no clue where I was, and I was scared out of my mind._

_Remember the guy I fought not too long ago? That was Xana, and he beat me almost to death the first time we met. He knew I was the Chosen One, and left me for dead out in that wasteland. Thankfully, one of my closest friends, Robert 'Bob' McAllister, a purple anthropomorphic cat, happened to be out in the desert looking for his favorite JarJar fruit and stumbled across me. I was saved and woke up later in his home. He nursed me back to health and showed me around my city._

_I later trained with the best of the best to get my skills up, and eventually took on the Disaster Troopers and Xana. It was hell, but at least I made it through._

_Then he fought me again. And again. And again. Until I ran him out of Brandonopolis._

_He would still be a pain in my ass, though, since he returned from vacation after a while._

**[END FLASHBACK]**

"Wow... You encountered aliens? Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed.

"And you've fought with this Xana guy several times before?" Mimi wondered.

"Too many times to count. Though, honestly... I was afraid that I would scare you guys away." Brandon said, a bit remorsefully.

"What do you mean? Why?" Sora replied.

"...Sometimes, I just want to be normal. Live my life out without any interruptions by the Villain's Alliance. There comes a time in many hero careers where things can be a bit too hot to handle. And...I can't stand the thought of failing people. The last month or so was probably the best one of my life outside of fighting. I just didn't want to lose you guys as friends. Not because of my powers...and not to Xana." Brandon said, revealing why he was so hesitant to fight MechaKuwagamon and Xana.

"What? We would never do that!" Mimi responded.

"Don't worry, man! You're cool with us." Matt also quipped.

"In all honesty, if it weren't for you and the Digimon, I think we might have died." Tai said.

Brandon looked surprised, but it changed into happiness when he heard that. Brandon was glad to have friends like these. They didn't care whether or not he had powers. He had repaid them for saving his life by saving them, and that's what mattered.

"You're very brave too, Brandon!" Agumon said.

"Yo, don't shill me. I may be popular in my own city, but I'd rather stick to being camera shy here to avoid Wesleydom." Brandon replied. Apparently, he was a known troper.

The rest of the fish ride went without a hitch, and continued talking.

"Hey, why are you guys in those new forms, anyways?" Matt asked.

"I suppose your name isn't Bukamon now?" Joe asked to Gomamon.

It was a strange ordeal, but somebody had to answer. However, they ended up hitting shore. As they walked up onto shore, they began to explain.

"It's Gomamon now." Gomamon replied.

"And I guess you're not Tokomon anymore, are you?" T.K asked Patamon.

"Uh-huh. It's Patamon now." Patamon replied.

"That's because we Digivolved." Agumon said, but that only raised the mystery a bit more.

"Uh, I don't think 'Digivolve' is in my dictionary..." Tai said, a sight befuddled.

"I guess Digivolving is what happens when they go to the next level and become more powerful than before." Izzy said, giving the explanation they needed.

"Right, all of us Digivolved. I went from Motimon to Tentomon." Tentomon quipped in.

"I digivolved from Yokomon to Biyomon." Biyomon said.

"First, I was Tsunomon. Then Gabumon." Gabumon was quick to explain.

"And I changed from Tanemon to Palmon!" Palmon said.

"And I was Koromon. I digivolved to Agumon." Agumon said, pointing at himself.

"Mmm-hm. When you digivolved, you got way bigger. Does that mean you're something different or still Digimon?" Tai asked, still wondering if the change was anything major aside from the new appearances, attacks, names, and voices.

"Digimon. But I needed your help, Tai!" Agumon replied.

"Me? For what?" Tai said.

"You see, Digivolving is a difficult process. In order to be successful, I had to share your energy." Agumon said.

"Really?" Tai said, more questioned than ever.

"I guess you guys don't run on batteries." Sora said, leaning over and looking at Biyomon.

"Sure don't!" Biyomon responded.

"But how do you access my energy?" Izzy wondered.

"Even we don't know everything!" Tentomon said.

"Thanks for my magical powers!" Palmon said, excited.

"Oh, the whole thing makes my head spinny..." Mimi said, confused.

"So I helped you change? That is so cool!" T.K said.

"Yep. Sure is." Patamon said.

"...My folks warned me about strangers." Joe said, completely about face from Gomamon.

"I'm not a stranger, Joe. I'm your friend for life!" Gomamon said, worried. Joe just groaned to himself.

"Okay, what are we gonna do?" Matt asked, growing impatient.

"Hm...if only there were a payphone nearby. We could call the police, the fire department, or my mother." Joe said, an idea having sprung into his mind.

"But we don't even know where we are!" Tai said.

"But we know where we started; up on that mountain." Sora said, turning her attention to the mountain they had began their adventure on." Sora said.

"I say we forget about going back up there and start exploring down here!" Matt said.

"Either way, we need to choose one way we're gonna go and begin moving. No progress will be made if we don't begin." Brandon said, wanting to get moving.

"Joe's right. We need to find some sort of communication or something and see if we can call anyone. Let's look around and find something."

"Okay...let's get moving." Rob said.

"But wait, we don't even have a compass! How will we know which way is north?" Izzy wondered.

"I know! It's the opposite of South!" Tenotmon said. That was only a tad bit more confusing.

"Wait! Aren't there more monsters like that giant bug that attacked us?" Mimi said, worried.

"Sure are!" Palmon said. That wasn't reassuring.

"Well, we gotta find something. Otherwise, we're stuck here without a clue on what we are supposed to do." Rob said.

"Aren't there any other humans?" Tai asked Agumon.

"Humans? Others like you? You're the first ever! There's never been anything but Digimon...well, up until that Xana guy arrived with his army." Agumon said.

"So there haven't been any humans as long as you've lived?" Tai asked.

"Nope." Agumon said.

Facing the facts, everyone didn't know what was going to happen. Brandon was quick to oblige.

"GUYS! We need to stop worrying! I know we're all scared, but we cannot sit around and do nothing here. We all want to get home, right?" Brandon said, channeling his drill sergeant.

They all nodded in agreement.

"Well, we need to find something to get back home. Tai, do you think you can scout for us?"

"Sure. I can look over that cliff! That's where I saw the ocean!"

"The ocean? Seriously?" Matt said, not quite believeing.

"We must stick close together and hopefully we won't get into any more-" Joe almost said.

"Joe! They're leaving us!" Gomamon said.

"HEY! WAIT FOR US!" Joe said, running after the group.

The group was now walking alongside the creek, following both Brandon and Tai.

"These trees are beautiful." Sora said, looking at the abundant plantlife.

"Yeah, they're really different, and I thought they were just sub-tropical." Izzy said.

"Whatever kind of trees they are, they're aggravating my hay fever." Joe said, his voice getting nasaly.

"Is there anything you don't complain about, Joe?" Matt said.

"Probably everything." Rob said, jokingly.

The DigiDestined (save Brandon, Rob, and Marie) all chatted it up with their Digimon as they walked down the creek. Eventually, they came to a halt and Matt told everyone to quiet down.

There was ringing in the distance. And not just your typical ringing. It had the telltale ring of a payphone.

"Payphones? Around these parts?" Marie wondered.

They walked a bit further. Sure enough, an entire convoy of phone booths were lined up on the beach they just walked out on.

"See? All we needed was a phone! We're saved!" Joe exclaimed. Finally, they were allowed to go home.

They tried to use the phones...but alas, the responses were all bizarre.

Brandon sighed, stamping a trollface on the side of his phone booth in frustration.

"WHAT? Oh, come on! Are you there, Mom?" Joe asked frantically, but he got a similarly odd response.

Brandon paid no mind. He simply tore up his phone booth with a chainsaw.

"Any luck, Sora?" Tai asked.

"No." Sora simply replied.

"I guess these phones must be some sort of a joke." Rob said.

"Something is rather fishy about this..." Tai thought.

"Gee, you think?" Brandon said, having finished leveling his phone booth to the ground.

"Uh, why did you do that?" Tai asked.

"'Cause this phone be trolling me." Brandon said, in a gravelly pirate voice.

"Okay..." Tai said. He wasn't exactly aware of it at the time, but Brandon was a teen that could pull off some neat voices.

Joe was still in his phone booth, frantically trying to get a legitimate response from the phone. No such luck.

Tai sighed. "I really don't want to keep standing around here. We'd better keep moving."

"Calm down, Tai. Everyone deserves to rest, okay?" Matt said. It was true. Everyone was tired of walking for right now. Well, everyone besides Brandon. He had gotten used to walking, running, and all manner of movement.

"We haven't had anything to eat in a while." Izzy said.

"We hadn't eaten since this morning. Okay, everyone, break time!" Tai said. Sora sighed with relief.

"It may not be much, but I think the only thing I have is-" Sora said and then stopped. When reaching for her back pockets and bag, her hand skimmed over the same device they picked up back at the camp.

"It's that weird digital device we picked up back at camp." Sora said, having forgotten about them until now.

"I almost forgot that we even had these gizmos." Tai said, also rediscovering his.

"They wouldn't be on us if they weren't important. What purpose are they supposed to serve?" Matt inquired.

"Perhaps if I took mine apart..." Izzy said, but just then, his stomach growled. "Uh, after I get something to eat. I'm quite famished."

Sora reached back into her waist bag. "All I really have is my emergency supplies. Some medicine, bandages, and a first aid kit, but that's about it." She said.

"I have my trusty laptop, digital camera, and cell phone. Of course, not one of them has worked since we have arrived." Izzy said, getting his laptop unraveled.

"It's a wonder you dragged all of that stuff to the camp." Tai said.

"And what do you have?" Izzy shot right back.

"Uh...my mini-telescope." Tai said, bringing it out. (I accidentally called them binoculars. Sorry.)

It almost was unanimous. Nobody had anything to eat whatsoever.

"So how are we expected to survive out here?" Rob asked.

"We may have to persevere." Brandon followed up.

"Check out what I've got!" T.K said, as he unzipped his backpack to reveal a load of sweets and other types of junk food.

"Sweet! But we'd better preserve that stuff. We don't know when or where we may need it." Brandon said. He knew that food was only good for so long, and not to mention that he did have to survive in a abandoned super-hotel for several days, so he had a pretty clear perception of survival.

"Hey, Mimi, what do you have in that bag? Some hairbrushes and make-up?" Tai asked Mimi.

"Oh, well, let's take a look. I have a compass, cooking fuel, a flashlight, one of those knives with all of those things, and some other stuff." Mimi said, setting out plenty of items.

"Jesus! For all we know, she's got a hammerspace bag!" Brandon exclaimed.

"Well, why didn't you tell us you had a compass before when we needed one?" Matt asked.

"I thought it would be fun to see how far we could make it without one! Besides, it's broken." she said, happily.

"Maybe we can use the camping fuel to light a signal fire!" Matt said.

"Or roast some telephones..." Sora said with sarcasm.

"There's no helicopters around these part, I believe. Unless you want to waste that stuff, I suggest we do that when it's a cold night out." Brandon said.

"Well...perhaps." Tai said. Then he noticed the Joe had the only first aid bag on him.

"Hey! Joe! You've got all of the emergency food in that bag!"

"Don't you know it's rude to interrupt when somebody is on the phone?" Joe called back.

"Those are phoney phones anyways! Come over here and share with us!" Brandon yelled back.

"What? I only brought it because today was Mimi's turn to carry it!" Joe said, though it was probably to lighten the load for him so that someone else had to carry the burden.

"Right..." Brandon said. His sarcasm didn't go unnoticed, because Joe looked a bit miffed in response.

"Well, the important part about this is that we have some food to eat. So let's simply have some lunch, okay?" Tai said.

The bag was not only packed to the brim with medical equipment, but food also. Gomamon was in the water relaxing by himself.

"Okay, so we need to split this amongst ourselves. There's seven people in this group. Seven people times three meals times three days comes to..." Joe calculated.

"Sixty-three meals. That's enough to last us three whole days." Izzy finished.

"But the Digimon have to eat too. At best, this stuff may only last us a half hour." Sora said.

"Not a problem at all. We Digimon scavenge for food on our own." Gabumon said.

"No need to include us in your calculations!" Tentomon said.

"Are you guys sure?" Marie said.

"Don't worry. We can fend for ourselves." Biyomon said.

They settled down a bit to eat. However, trouble was never that far behind in the Digital World. Especially not with Xana now involved.

A waterspout suddenly popped up. Gomamon stopped relaxing, and Biyomon stood up and looked back at the oncoming trouble.

"What is it now, Biyomon?" Sora asked.

"Trouble. Big trouble." Biyomon answered.

The waterspout picked up all of the telephone booths and tossed them to the ground, destroying them in the process.. The group ran away from the carnage, laving their bags behind in the process.

The spout of water stopped, only for the sand to bulge up and be drilled through. What looked to be a giant shell began rising from the sand.

"Shellmon!" Tentomon yelled in surprise.

"What's a Shellmon?" Izzy asked.

"Something that gets angry for no apparent reason, that's what!" Tentomon replied.

The shell had finally surfaced...but it was not a regular shell. The rocky texture of the shell had been replaced by a multi-tier drill. Then the being inside the shell popped out. Much of its body was enveloped in metal and changed into new weapons. One of its hands were a claw now, another was a giant dome like claw hand. Its lower jaw was fashioned out of sleek metal, and the teeth on the lower jaw weren't rectangular. They were now as lethal as ever. Its once yellow tentacle like hair was now outfitted with sparking cable wires, so that it could shock a victim to death should it get a hold of one. Amongst its new hair lay a water valve that could change whatever it was using from water, to oil, fire, or worst of all, acid. Its eyes, once a serene blue, now replaced by blood red mechanical eyes, which stuck out like a snail's eyes. It was also outfitted with tank treads to move around more efficiently.

It wasn't even a Digimon anymore. On the base of the shell below the drill, a familiar looking eye stylized with line that veered off into one direction for each. It no longer belonged to the DigiWorld. It belonged to Xana.

"That son of a bitch..." Brandon had said, once he found the telltale symbol that persisted on most of Xana's creations and 'modifications'. Just like with Kuwagamon before it, it had been modified to serve under Xana. Judging from the dirt and grime on its body, it had probably been modified a month prior to their arrival. Xana wasn't kidding this time around, it seemed.

"Attacked by two Digital Monsters in the same day... And doesn't Shellmon realize that I'm allergic to shellfish?" Joe said.

"That doesn't look like Shellmon anymore..." Tentomon said, becoming more and more worried.

Joe attempted to escape up the cliff by climbing it, but he ultimately got blasted by the water cannon.

"JOE! NO!" Gomamon yelled, moments before getting hit by the oil option on its cannon. It polluted the water around Gomamon, and it began to poison him. He left the water quickly to avoid further exposure.

"Digimon, attack!" Agumon said. The Digimon rushed forward at this new Shellmon... It didn't even look like Shellmon whatsoever, though.

[BOSS: DrillShellmon]

The DigiDestined looked on, and hoped for the best.

"Agumon, show him!" Tai yelled to Agumon.

"Pepper Breath!" He yelled, using it on DrillShellmon. It hit him, slightly fazing him.

The other Digimon also fired their attacks...but they fizzled out as quickly as they began.

"What's happening to them?" Izzy wondered.

And just as quickly as their powers stopped, DrillShellmon was even quicker in dispatching the Digimon. However, Agumon's Pepper Breath still seemed to work against the submersible monstrosity.

"Why is Agumon the only one..."

"We're just...too...hungry..." Tentomon said weakly.

It was revealed that Agumon was the only one to have had anything to eat right before the battle. All of the other Digimon were famished, so therefore, they had no means of fighting back successfully.

Agumon was pummeling the gargantuan sea life with Pepper Breath after Pepper Breath, but the horrid horror eventually got the upper hand by sneaking one of its electric tentacles through one of the blasts. It managed to pick him up and plunge him into the water. When it didn't appear to kill Agumon, it simply dunked him again, and charged his Tesla tentacles. It shocked the hell out of the poor Digimon, and left him for dead in the middle of the ocean.

"NOOO! AGUMON!" Tai screamed at the heartless abomination.

Brandon fired several rockets at him in order to do some real damage, but it only really did moderate damage at best. It only served to piss it off, as Brandon then found himself being crushed and shocked to death by the same tentacles.

"HEY! FISH BREATH! PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" He yelled again, and grabbed a dented pole from one of the broken phone booths. He then hit the monster with it, to no avail. This caught its attention, as it tossed Brandon straight into the cliff, and grabbed him up instead. It promptly used its acid cannon on Brandon, only getting him a bit, but it still stung like hell. But it thought ahead, clamping its claw tightly around Brandon, and pinning him against the cliff.

Its tentacles were getting ready to be fully charged and become well over potent enough to kill, and even atomize, Tai.

"AGUMON! PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD! WE NEED YOU! _**I **_NEED YOU!" He shouted one last time. His digivice then shone brightly. Deep in the water, Agumon's lifeless body drifted down into the deepest reaches of the digital ocean. Then...he began to change...

Agumon...Digivolve to...

**GREYMON!**

A giant dinosaur with orange skin, blue stripes, red eyes, and a brown skull like casing with horns covering the top half of his head rose out of the water. He was considerably larger than Agumon was. Now, he was about the size of DrillShellmon, if not even bigger.

"A-A-Agumon?" Tai said in shock. His friend had gone from small, cute creature, to massive behemoth.

"Hey, shell-for-brains! Pick on people and Digimon your own size!" this new Digimon yelled at DrillShellmon.

DrillShellmon was quick to toss Tai into the cliff as well, and removed his pin grip on Brandon, focusing all of his attention on this newcomer.

The other children ran over to the battered Tai and Brandon to support them.

"Are you okay?" Mimi asked.

"Yes, are you okay at all?" Sora asked as well.

"I'm a bit dinged up. He's pulling no punches this time..." Brandon managed to say. DrillShellmon had managed to cut off his air and crush some of his ribs. Joe would have to likely work overtime again.

Greymon and DrillShellmon were having it out, throwing attacks back at one another. It was like a giant monster movie. Greymon dodged the vice grip claw, and knocked the monster over, causing it to break off and fall. DrillShellmon quickly followed by trying to shock him again. This time, there wasn't a single response out of Greymon.

He decided to cut losses and knock Greymon off of his feet, but Greymon was persistent in his fight to protect his new friends. Grymon threw a new attack at him...

"NOVA BLAST!" Greymon yelled. A large fireball emitted from Greymon's mouth, blowing half of DrillShellmon's face off, and sending one of his eyes into the sea.

"Kick his ass!" Rob yelled.

Greymon kept punching and kicking, but the mayhem maker was just as elusive in evading.

Well, up until Greymon pulled on his only remaining eye stalk. He pulled as hard as he could, and then let go.

The recoil ended up sending the robotic terror spinning all around, crashing into various rocks and the cliff until finally landing head first in the water. Not a few seconds later, it self-destructed spectacularly, something that MechaKuwagamon didn't do. The mighty DrillShellmon was no more.

Greymon, not needed anymore for now, de-digivolved to a now tired out Agumon. An injured Tai ran over to him, worried.

"Agumon! Are you okay? Poor guy..." Tai said, not sure whether Agumon was okay or not.

"Tai..." Agumon said.

"Do you have...anything to eat?" He said again with a smirk on his face. Tai smiled with relief.

A few minutes later, the group had gotten back together, the Digimon were eating, Brandon was all patched up (again), and Joe was still attempting to dial home, even though it was clearly futile the first time.

"Well, there's no sense in staying here much longer. When should we break the bad news to Joe?" Tai said.

"He'll figure it out soon enough." Marie said.

"Hm...I believe Shellmon was not permanently destroyed. His data still exists, so he might come back for round 2 if we don't begin moving." Izzy said.

"Not quite, Izzy. Whatever is left of the real Shellmon from that body is just wisps of his former data. Granted, he still may return, but he sure as hell won't for a while, now that his physical cyborg body has been demolished." Brandon added.

"Prodigious! That's a possibility. Given that Kuwagamon had become a mechanical corporal entity, what's left of his data will reform itself over time." Izzy finished.

"Why don't we just go back into the forest? Anyone who's looking for us there will find us more easily!" Joe said, having given up the phone.

"The forest up on that cliff was where we started, Joe. We fell off of it, and floated down a creek to get here. Getting back up there would be a big job." Sora said.

"And I don't want to encounter Kuwagamon again! If he's early..." Mimi added.

"Well, if there are phones here, there has to be somebody that uses them. We need to find those people and ask for their help in getting us back to our home." Izzy said.

"That makes sense..." Joe said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Tai said, excited.

And off they went. These children were about to embark on a journey that no man has gone on before.

However, Xana was still the one pulling the strings, and the kids left him for dead back on the cliff. But he wasn't truly dead. And the kids would be seeing a lot of him before their journey ended.

Alright. Knocked another chapter off of the line up. Stay tuned, folks.


	4. Garurumon Appears!

Digimon Adventure: A Slightly Darker Retelling

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>Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters seen here, except my own characters. All characters belong to their original creators.<p><p>

Chapter 2: I'm Blue In Purgatory

Part 2: Garurumon Appears! (The original title was just 'Garurumon', so I decided to change things up a bit.)

Well into their stay in the Digital World, the children had met their own Digimon, and locked horns with other ones bent on killing them. Two of them that had been encountered thus far had been modified to serve under tyrant mutant lizard Xana's rule. Both were destroyed through the efforts of the Digimon and Brandon Cash.

Having just dealt with a now defeated DrillShellmon, the children were looking around for other humans. They have ended up on a rocky side of the island they found theirselves on, and there were no sign of other humans anywhere on the island.

Then Tai spoke to Agumon.

"Hey, Agumon!" Tai said.

"Yes, Tai?" Agumon answered.

"I kind of liked it when you were Greymon better. No offense, but why don't you stay that way?" Tai wondered.

"I can't, Tai. Besides, super-heroes need a break every now and then, right?" Agumon said. Tai was weirded out, and nearly fell off the cliff, with Agumon grabbing him by his shirt as the others laughed at the sight.

But then they heard roaring. Another dinosaur like Digimon burst from a rocky wall. This one looked more like a black and grey triceratops. It was apparently angry, and looked at the children.

"What Digimon is that?" Izzy asked.

"That's a Monochromon. But you don't have to worry about him. He's a laid back Digimon." Tentomon said. The Monochromon roared again. It wasn't exactly as laid back as Tentomon was hoping.

"...Although it is wise to be a bit cautious with a Monochromon. They do tend to be a bit miffed if they're hungry." Tentomon followed up. It began stomping forward towards the children.

"Then it must be starving, because he looks _really_ mad!" Tai said.

Rockets then appeared and blasted the Monochromon. Everyone looked behind them. To their horror, another Monochromon was there, but it too had been decked out with various upgrades. The real Monochromon recognized it as an enemy, and began to butt heads with it, despite the fact that its odds of winning this fight was a hundred to one. The mechanical Monochromon was more brutal in its attacks, not really giving the real one any room to breathe.

"Another one of those mechanical Digimon?" Matt said.

"Why does this Xana guy want to turn them into his robot slaves?" Rob said.

"We'd better not question it! RUN!" Brandon said.

They didn't have to be told a second time. They ran like no tomorrow. Both Digimon were still fighting.

T.K tripped, and Matt attempted to help him up.

"We'd better hurry, guys!" Tai said.

"You got it!" T.K said, ignoring his injury and running.

Soon, both Monochromon pushed each other over the cliff, and both were presumed dead. Xana, now alive once again, was surveying the fight, and wasn't happy with the results.

"The original prevailed over MY modified Monochromon? I call bollocks on that... Pah. No big losses right now. They're just a bunch of cannon fodder under my flag. I just hope my allies will pitch in sooner or later to help me in this fight. Or else, those meddling kids are going to ruin everything." Xana said.

"That said, I have another Digimon to modify." He then flew off in his capsule to make the prerequisite changes to another unsuspecting Digimon.

Later that day, the sun was beginning to set over the horizon. The children had been walking for hours.

Mimi sighed, rather exaustedly. "If there was a mall here, I'd walk much more... And as you can see, we're nowhere near one!" She said.

"Mimi, stop complaining." Tai said, walking past.

"I'm serious! My feet hurt!" She complained.

"Maybe if you took off your socks and shoes, maybe you'd feel better, Mimi. It's much more pratical, I think." Agumon said.

"I'm not walking and dirtying my bare feet!" Mimi shot back.

Palmon then walked up.

"I like the feel of dirt beneath my feet, especially when it's between my toes!" Palmon said, not complaining in the least.

"Ew, gross!" Mimi said. She was spoiled, without a doubt.

The sun was coming down fast. Izzy was quick to denote that.

"Our light source is disappearing..." Izzy said.

"What a weird sunset." Sora said.

"Everything on this island is weird! And who knows what will come out at night?" Izzy said.

Tentomon perked up, and then began to fly off.

"Wait! I detect water! Wait here while I investigate!" Tentomon said as he flew out to see where it was.

A minute later, there was indeed water.

"As usual, I'm right. There's a lake over there with clean water and plenty of tasty fish; a perfect place to camp at for the night!" Tentomon called out to the others.

"Maybe I can finally soak my achey feet..." Mimi said.

"Yay! We get to swim—OOF!" Gomamon was cut short by Joe grabbing his tail.

"Don't go until we know it's safe!" Joe said.

"How about we stop complaining and just keep moving?" Matt said.

"Everyone's hungry. We have to find some food!" Tai said.

"That's a good plan. I like that plan a lot." Joe agreed.

They ran to the lakeside quickly to see what it was like. When they got there, it was perfect. For tonight, they could stay here.

"It's perfect as you said, Tentomon." Izzy said.

"I didn't want to take my shoes off in the dirt. What makes you think that I'll sleep in it?" Mimi said.

"Do you see a hotel here?" Tai snarked at Mimi. She gasped in surprise at Tai's remark...supossedly. Instead, she gasped at a even stranger sight. A trolley cab had sparked to life, its headlights coming on and its metal power track antenna popping up. It was on the small landmass near the shore of the lake.

"Odd...it's lights just came on!" Izzy said, bewildered.

"Maybe we'll find some real people in there." Sora said.

"Then let's go!" Tai said.

"I get the feeling this will come into play sooner or later." Brandon muttered to himself. He figured that the trolley car would become of much later importance. He soon followed them onto the car.

"Bummer! It's empty!" Tai said, hoping to see other humans.

"Really empty..." Sora followed.

"No trolly car is this clean!" Izzy remarked, looking closely at the floor. Not a spot was to be seen.

"Ooh, goody! These seats are nice and comfy!" Mimi said, sitting on the seats.

"Something's up... Remember those phone booths on the beach earlier? Something equally as strange could happen here!" Tai said, remembering those odd phone booths just before DrillShellmon struck.

"Yeah, like this thing will move on its own or something." Joe said, at the wheel.

"Then maybe we can ride this thing home. We have nothing to lose from being here." Sora said.

"If it works, there's a possibility. For now, we'd better find something to eat. Now that we have some shelter, that's top priority right now." Brandon said.

"He's right. I'm sure everyone is hungry by now." Tai said.

The group left the trolley to find something to eat for the night. Izzy and T.K were fishing, but Gomamon kept getting in the way.

"Gomamon, cut it out! I can't catch fish if you keep warning them away!" Izzy said, a bit angry.

Joe and Sora were seen carrying logs for some fire. Tentomon was in a tree, eating berries.

"Yum yum! You can never get too many berries down the hatch!" Tentomon said, enjoying himself.

Patamon and Agumon were teaming up to knock down a banana looking fruit from a tree. Patamon charged his Boom Bubble to its maximum power, and shot down the banana. It promptly landed on Gabumon's horn, elicting an annoyed response from Gabumon.

Biyomon laughed. "Oh boy. You'd better watch that deadly breath of yours, Patamon." Biyomon said as she flew to another tree to pull down a blue and green fruit.

Mimi and Palmon were looking at some mushrooms. Palmon pointed out the ones they were currently looking at were bad ones.

"Those are bad mushrooms! You shouldn't pick 'em. They'll make you sick!" Palmon said.

Mimi stopped short, and turned to Palmon, pleased.

"I'd be a big mess with out you, Palmon! You're the best!" Mimi said in wonder.

Back with Matt and Tai, they had finished putting down the firewood.

"Alright, we have the wood, but we just don't have any fire..." Tai said.

"I can fix that!" Agumon said as he used some of his Pepper Breath to ignite the firewood.

"Alright! Nice work!" Tai said, pleased.

A few seconds afterwards, Izzy and T.K ran to the group with the fish in hand.

"Hey, guys! We've caught a bunch of fish!" Izzy yelled to the group as he came closer.

"Great! Let's grill 'em and eat 'em." Matt said.

Later that night, they were enjoying theirselves and eating the fish they had just grilled over the fire. They were understandably famished by that point, so they had nearly eaten it all. T.K was still working on his, though he looked as if he felt bad about eating it.

"My mom normally gets us fish sticks..." T.K said, a little unnerved to be eating an actual fish.

"T.K, it's okay!" Matt said.

"I've never had to eat real fish before..." T.K said again...

"I said it's okay! Don't worry so much!" Matt said, his voice increasing in volume.

Tai walked away towards Sora, and began to speak with her.

"I've noticed that Matt doesn't really treat T.K like a brother... It's more like he's treating him as a bother."

"I've noticed too. Maybe he's still trying to get used to being a big brother and all." Sora replied.

"Maybe..." Tai said.

Brandon was sitting in a nearby tree with binoculars. He was simply sight-seeing. Rob climbed up into the tree next to him with Marie.

"Yo, Brandon." Rob said.

"Oh, hey. I'm just looking around. I have to say, this place is neat as all hell." Brandon marveled.

And who couldn't agree? The vantage point where Brandon was perched at got a nice view of the overlooking area. It was breathtaking for him.

"Man...if only Akiyoko was here... She'd love this place."

"I know how you feel." Rob said.

"We won't be stuck here for good. I hope." Marie followed.

Brandon looked down at the three below them. They were conversing on where the North Star was and whatnot. It was pretty clear that everyone was getting tired though, as Patamon began yawning.

"Everyone's getting sleepy, myself included. I think we should call it a night." Tai said. Brandon, Rob, and Marie jumped down from the tree and joined the others.

"I suggest that we take turns on watch duty." Izzy suggested.

"Not a bad idea. Who should go first?" Joe said.

"Maybe each of us should stand guard for an hour." Brandon said.

"Not T.K." Matt said. T.K said otherwise.

"Come on, Matt! I want to stand watch, too!" T.K protested.

"No! You're too young and you need your sleep!" Matt said.

Mimi came up behind them, still worried that she'd have to suffer a cold night. "I need a nice warm blanket to help me sleep, because I'm getting cold!"

This, of all things, egged Tai to pull a rather mean joke on Gabumon...

"Hey Gabumon... You better look out when you sleep because if you feel a tug on your pelt, that means that she's gonna take it to use as a blanket!" Tai said smugly, as he tugged on Gabumon's pelt.

Matt was not pleased with this tomfoolery. It made the impact worse when Gabumon yelled for Tai to stop when he didn't. This caused Matt to lash out at Tai, shoving him to get him to stop pulling Gabumon's pelt.

"Stop that, Tai!" Matt said, pushing Tai out of the way.

"What? What am I doing wrong?" Tai protested.

"He said for you to stop, and you didn't!" Matt said.

Everyone began to get nervous. These fights were far and few in between, but they certainly turned into disaster if they really got going. Joe and Brandon were quick to break the fight up.

"Hey, calm down, guys! So he pulled a joke. Big deal!" Brandon said, holding Tai back.

"He's right. You two fight over the silliest things at times...so stop it!" Joe said, keeping Matt at bay, surprising for somebody renowned for his rather prominent cowardice.

"Fine." Both Matt and Tai said, defiantly turning away from each other.

Joe then decided to pick the guard order.

"First, Tai will stand guard, then Matt, then Izzy will stand guard, and finally, I will stand guard myself." Joe said.

"Fair enough, but since I don't really feel safe with Xana prowling around, I better stay up as well." Brandon said.

"No, you need your sleep, Brandon." Joe said, a little worried.

"I have to keep one eye open when I sleep because assassins are after me sometimes. Xana's no better with that. He'd kill all of you too if he gets the chance." Brandon warned.

"That dirty rotten cheater!" Mimi said.

"He's a villain...and a long runner at that. You'll have to get used to dirty tricks like that..." Brandon said to Mimi.

"Well, the order has been determined. And so that there is no trouble concerning Xana, Brandon will stand guard for all of us throughout the night." Joe said.

"Fair enough." Tai said.

Night fell on the Digital World. Tai was up, keeping watch as everyone slept soundly in the trolley car. He was simply walking around making his rounds, making sure trouble wouldn't be coming this way.

Looking around made him come across another night-watcher: Matt. He was wide awake and out of the trolley, looking out to the lake. He looked like his nerves were shot.

Although he should be looking out for trouble, he decided to talk with Matt to see what was wrong.

"Hey, Matt. How's it hanging?" Tai said. Matt didn't turn to face him, and kept his troubled eyes on the lake. He did answer, however.

"...Things are a little off for me lately. First, we get sent to this place. Then, we almost get killed twice the first day we're here. I was worried for T.K..." Matt remorsefully said.

"Why?" Tai responded.

"...Because he's all I have left of my family, Tai. Look, my parents got divorced several years ago. I have to live with my father and T.K has to live with Mom. I don't really see him much, and I don't know if Mom is taking good care of him... The month I've spent with him was the best of my life...and now we're stuck in this unknown land, not sure where we're going or what we're going to do, and we may actually **die** here, Tai." Matt said, his voice getting a twinge upset.

"...Wow...Matt...I didn't know, man. That explains a lot..." Tai said.

Matt uttered not a word, got up from his current spot, and strode off to a nearby island, not wanting to be bothered by Tai further.

Tai felt a bit sorry for Matt. Matt's parents were divorcees, and he had to suffer by being separated from his brother, not knowing whether he was safe or not with each passing day.

Tai began to walk away too, but then he heard some music being played. It sounded like...

Off on the island he was on, Matt was playing him harmonica in a somber and haunting tune. It perfectly fit how he felt about the situation. Gabumon was awaken by this melancholy melody, and can out to see who was playing it. He, along with Tai, was watching on, amazed that he could play something like a harmonica so well. Gabumon went to join him, as Agumon awoke from his deep sleep.

"Tai? What's going on?" Agumon said, drowsily.

"Nothing..." Tai said, still looking at Matt.

He eventually decided to warm up by the fire, which was still burning bright as it was hours ago.

"I guess I'm just feeling bad for Matt. He said that his parents were divorced, and wasn't sure how T.K was doing." Tai said.

"Why's that?" Agumon said. He wasn't exactly accustomed to knowing the perks and downfalls of the human culture yet, but he would get there soon enough.

"Because they have to live separately, with little to no contact with T.K." Tai said.

"Oh... I can see why he is a bit angry." Agumon replied.

"Yeah..." Tai said.

Suddely, they heard shooting. Brandon was taking potshots at...something. They assumed that he was just trying to score some big game or something. Then it hit them. It was a warning. They looked back at Brandon to find that he was indeed shooting at his target.

The telltale capsule and its reptilian pilot was floating away again, having done his work, although he was struck a couple of times trying to dodge Brandon's bullets. The fire sparked a bit, and the stray sparks ended up hitting something...

A tail. A spark had hit a tail buried under a bunch of dirt and rock. And the creature that belonged to said tail was not very happy at all.

However, it had been transformed with little regard to its well-being. Thanks to Xana's last minute improvements, it too had been transformed into a monster of war. Its entire body was fit into a gigantic snail shell; unlike Shellmon pre-modification, it was your typical looking one, fused to a ton of moss, algae, and rock. It had gained arms, a commodity that it originally did not have. Its body was, like all of the other modded Digimon, half cyborg, half data. Its back legs were fins for moving smoothly in the water. Its eyes were now replaced with soulless cybernetics, and they had a red glow to them. Its teeth were even sharper than they were before, and it now had the added ability to breathe fire or acid. Its tail fin could now produce powerful gusts of wind with enough flapping, and it was part chainsaw; a deadly commodity to the DigiDestined and even possibly itself, should it completely go into 'outrage mode'. Its entire underbelly was another story.

It was protected by a gelatinous orange shell. It had all of its organs packed into the underbelly. Some of the organs were also see through. Inside were the dissolving bodies of its previous victims. Some of them look like they've been in there for several years...and that wasn't too far off from the truth. Its heart was completely caressed in a red, crystal like orb, floating around aimlessly in the belly of the beast.

The roaring of this new mechanical beast woke everyone else up, as they ran out of the trolley car to see what was the matter. The problem had made itself clearly present, and the Digimon had to be quick, or be dead.

Xana floated down from the skies in his newly repaired but slightly perforated Xana Capsule IV to taunt the heroes.

"Hello, my fine underaged ladies and gents. Did you get a good night's sleep?" Xana began.

"What the hell are you doing here, Xana? Can't you see that we are trying to rest here?" Matt yelled.

"Matt, Matt, Matt... You don't understand it, do you? I am Brandon's worst enemy. Because he is associated with you, I am YOUR worst enemy. All of you. And I can attack you at any time I want." Xana said again.

"And why do you feel the need to continue to "modify" these Digimon?" Tai said.

"Because they won't listen to me. I took it into my own hands to transform this place into my own utopia. And you are in it. AND YOU'RE DESTROYING IT." Xana said, his voice raising in tone.

"Not without our own reasoning, you brainless reptile. We are here because YOU brought us here to challenge YOU. We are not going to sit back and watch as you pillage an innocent land filled with creatures that have no intentions of trying to ruin your plans. You're the one who's started this war, and by god, we are going to FINISH it." Brandon said, getting rather angry.

"...So be it. If that's the way you want it, I'll be more than happy to deliver it tenfold. Serapis, sick 'em." Xana said, angered at first, then smug.

The sea-locked behemoth roared, and prepared to attack the group.

"Isn't that a Seadramon?" Marie said.

"Yes! But it bears little resemblance to one now!" Tentomon said.

"The bastard." Rob uttered under his breath. Even he was pissed off at Xana's inhumane treatment of the Digimon.

The Digimon, Rob, Marie, and Brandon prepared for the worst to come.

[BOSS: Serapis, Terror of the Deep]

The group attacked, but Serapis was much faster than them, and blasted the ground with a powerful electricity laser. It destroyed the landform bridge between the shore and the island the rest of the DigiDestined were standing on, leaving the Digimon, Rob, Marie, and Brandon back on the shore. Matt had managed to barely escape the blast, but the force of the explosion sent him hurtling into a nearby tree. He was rather resilient, however, and managed to summon the strength to carry on.

The Digimon, meanwhile, were pelting Serapis with their attacks. Agumon had managed to digivolve into Greymon, but even he was making little progress on the monster.

Parts of the shell opened up to reveal mortar cannons. Everyone had to run for cover; a blast of that caliber would tear them apart on the spot.

Rob and Marie were using double team attacks against the monster. It did some damage, but not nearly enough to the point where the wounds were fatal.

Brandon was continually drawing fire, trying to prevent the serpent from blasting the team to smithereens, as he returned heavy fire with all sorts of unique guns that he had collected throughout his journeys. Not even that was making the big palooka stay down.

However, Xana wasn't going to let them simply win this time around. He dropped out of his capsule and dove at Brandon. This ended up distracting him completely, as Serapis' attention turned back to the group. Brandon was still trying to hit Serapis with some blind shots, but is was no use: Serapis knew that Xana would keep Brandon under fire just long enough for him to cook these cretins.

He lit up his flame pipe deep within his throat, and let loose with his fire. The Digimon, Rob, and Marie did their best to avoid, but Serapis wasn't going to let them get off that easily. He picked up several nearby slabs of rock, and tossed them at the only possible exit out of the area, then proceeded to start a forest fire to prevent any chance of escape through the forest. Although he knew that the fire would die over time, he didn't care. As long as he succeeded in Xana's mission, he would help his new master rule the Digital World.

Brandon, looking around in horror at the carnage, ended up getting a face full of Xana foot and was knocked to the ground, as Xana followed up with an aerial strike. Brandon's response? Kick him in the gonads mid-flight.

Xana screamed in pain, then fell to the ground, clutching his non-existent junk, grimacing all the while. Brandon then ran up to Serapis. Serapis was charging a finishing blow against the now trapped group. The chainsaw tail was keeping the DigiDestined on the island at bay.

Brandon had to act fast. Using his Spear Launcher, a weapon fashioned out of a leaf blower and a bunch of spears crammed in, he fired one at the head of the behemoth.

The first spear barely clipped one of its side fins and got lodged in one of its gills. Brandon, now beginning to panic, fumbled to get another spear into the launcher, then fired it at Serapis.

The second spear went a little off course and nailed Serapis in the back of its neck. Not a critical point, and had he aimed that spear correctly a few inches higher, he could've knocked the creature out on its pressure point. Brandon pulled out one more spear, this time a rocket spear to ensure that it wouldn't lose itself during flight and that it would make it quick enough to stall Serapis.

Brandon steeled his nerves this time, making absolutely sure that the shot wouldn't miss...

Then Xana, having recovered from a blow to his privates came up from behind and began to strangle Brandon with a garotte.

Losing consciousness, Brandon had no choice but to make a fluke shot and hoped like hell that it at least would do something to prevent the beast from killing his friends.

With his last breath, Brandon fired the spear launcher, and used his fading strength to elbow Xana several times, making him let go, and causing Brandon to fall to the ground, completely unconscious. The rocket spear shot from the launcher headed directly towards one target...

STAB!

The rocket spear got caught in the Serapis' eye. Moments later, it exploded. Brandon had set both the explosion power and radius to "high octane" to ensure maximum effectiveness.

And it certainly did a bang up job of that. Part of Serapis' face was gone, replaced by a gaping, mangled hole of blood, flesh, bone, and muscle.

In the midst of the explosion, it misfired its attack and shot it off to its right. It exploded moments later. The group looked relieved. But it wasn't over yet...

The tail began to swing about madly. Serapis had entered RAGE MODE. Brandon was coming around, and saw that the monster was damaged, but wasn't down. He needed to think quickly...

"Gabumon! Use Blue Blaster on the chainsaw when I say when!" Brandon ordered. Gabumon nodded, but wasn't sure if his blaster could reach that far...and Brandon wasn't sure if he had eaten lately, so he was going to have to wing it.

Brandon tossed a boulder into the water, narrowly missing the tail. The water went up in a large plume around the chainsaw...

"NOW!" Brandon yelled. Gabumon summoned as much strength as he could, and unleashed his attack.

"BLUE BLASTER!" Gabumon yelled, as he shot his attack with all of his might. It extended across the lake, and hit the plume, freezing the water around it, and causing the chainsaw to sputter to a stop. Gabumon fainted immediately afterwards. That Blue Blaster took a lot out of him. Brandon had to act quickly though, since he guessed that Serapis would use his fire breath to thaw the ice out. He pulled out Thumper, a unique grenade launcher, and put in a particularly powerful type of ammo he dared not use unless it were an emergency. The situation they were in certainly warranted this enough, as he fired a hydrogen-grade explosive grenade into the exhaust vent of the chainsaw.

"EVERYONE RUN FOR COVER! THIS IS GONNA BE A BIGGIN'!" Brandon screamed out to everyone. Thankfully, the DigiDestined on the island heard it (lucky, lucky), and they heeded the advice, taking cover inside the trolley car. Brandon, as if he were some sort of cartoon character, squashed himself inside his helmet like a turtle, bringing the Digimon, Rob, and Marie inside as well.

The grenade, true to its type name, exploded with the force of a hydrogen bomb and the radius of a undercranked atom bomb, knocking the trolley car over, putting out all of the forest fire, and causing the impromptu rock wall to crack and crumble.

Once the explosion's force had died down, the DigiDestined got out of their safe areas. The DigiDestined in the trolley car were somewhat bruised from the impact, but were unscathed for the most part. Brandon poked his head out from underneath his helmet, then rose from it and put it back on, revealing the others he hid with him.

Serapis was nowhere to be found. Everyone assumed that he got caught up in the blast and was killed. Everyone began cheering...

"Wait... I can still feel his presence. He's not quite dead yet..." Brandon said...just before he was cut short by Serapis' webbed claw shooting up from the depths of the lake. It smashed Brandon flat, tossed Rob and Marie against the rocks to knock them out, then turned its attention to the stranded DigiDestined. Parts of its shell was gone, and its tail had been blown completely off. The only thing left of it was a bloody stub that was making the water turn a dark shade of crimson. Not that the rest of its injuries weren't already doing the same thing. It roared as it was about to grab up the DigiDestined for a snack, when a rock no bigger than the size of a grown man's fist nailed Serapis upside its head. It had gotten rather tender from all of its battle damage, so naturally as a reflex action, it snapped its head back towards the general direction the rock came from and roared.

Matt was standing there, furious as all hell.

"YOU LEAVE THEM ALONE, YOU FREAK!" Matt yelled at the top of his lungs.

Serapis, not about to give in to its injuries, floated over to Matt and grabbed him up. Immediately afterward, he slammed him down on the ground, and dragged him across it.

Picking him up again, Matt was bleeding from all of the scrapes across the ground he accumulated. Serapis wasted little time, as he dragged Matt under and into the lake. Gabumon was barely awake, watching the carnage unfold.

"Matt...no..." Gabumon said weakly. He attempted to get up, but alas, he wasn't able to.

Beneath the lake, Serapis was continually dragging Matt down. Even thought he managed to escape a couple of times, Serapis grabbed him again and dragged him down further.

Matt was rapidly losing air. His wounds weren't helping matters. The water stung against his shredded skin. The front of his shirt was completely in tatters, and he knew that he was about to die.

"Well...this is...it..." Matt thought, as Serapis went deeper and deeper.

"This...is...goodbye... T...T.K...I'm...s...or...ry..."

It wasn't going to be the end of it, however. Just then, Matt's Digivice began to glow brightly. Serapis took notice, and somehow knew what was going on. In response, he hissed at the light and tried to swim down faster.

Back on the surface, Gabumon was beginning to glow as well, being filled with newfound energy as he began to transform...

"Matt's...in trouble... I have to...help...him!" Gabumon said, now transforming.

**Gabumon...Digivolve to...**

**GARURUMON!**

Gabumon no longer looked like a reptilian creature wearing a pelt. Now, he was a full on quadrupedal wolf about the size of a 4x4 truck. He knew Matt was in some deep trouble, but he was NOT going to hesitate.

He quickly dove into the water and swam deep into the depths of the lake to find that the behemoth was still diving further. The pressure was getting to Matt, and he was already choking on lake water as it was. Serapis wasn't exactly safe from the pressure either, but he was holding out much more than Matt was.

Garurumon had to act fast; any further down and he'd crumple like a paper bag.

He paddled to Serapis' claw, where Matt was currently being held. Garurumon clamped his jaws down on its hand, as it let out a distorted roar. Garurumon grabbed Matt's shirt collar with his teeth and made tracks for the surface, as he too, was running out of air. Serapis attempted another grab, but Garurumon reacted with several kicks, making sure his claws did favorable damage.

Within minutes, Garurumon burst from the surface of the lake, and landed on the shore, breathless.

Matt was not breathing. Brandon, Rob, and Marie ran over to him.

"How long was he under?" Brandon asked.

"Possibly two minutes, maybe even more." Garurumon responded.

"Oh man, Matt. Come on, buddy..." Brandon said, as he performed CPR repeatedly. For several minutes, it didn't look like he was coming around.

However, with enough tries, Matt was resuscitated. He gasped, and woke up coughing and throwing up lake water to get it out of his system.

"Are you okay, Matt?" Rob asked.

"Yeah...I'm...okay..." Matt said, in-between coughs.

Serapis then burst from the water again, part of its webbing on its hand in tatters. No rest for the wicked, it seems. By now, it was a mess.

"Implacable man, eh? Well, we'll just see exactly how implacable you really are. Garurumon, you still got your attack?" Brandon said.

"Yeah. It's much more powerful now!" Garurumon answered.

"Perfect." Brandon said, turning his arm into a robotic arm. It then morphed into a cannon, as Brandon switched the setting to "Ice Cannon – Continuous".

"Whenever you're ready, big guy."

Brandon and Garurumon were in a stand-off against a severely wounded Serapis.

Serapis began to charge his fire blast up, as Garurumon and Brandon were doing the same with their ice based attacks.

"DRAW!"

"HOWLING BLASTER!" Garurumon called as he shot a blue blast of icy energy the same time Brandon did.

As quick as a shooting star, all three shot their attacks. Fire flew from Serapis' mouth, while ice was blasted from both Brandon and Garurumon. The ice beams intertwined and formed into one, as both beams got locked into a stalemate.

For a minute and a half, the beams continued to push against each other and fluctuate in power. Eventually, Brandon and Garurumon managed to put as much power as they could behind these attacks, as the ice beams overpowered the fire blast. Serapis barely had time to look utterly shocked before it was hit by the combined ice beam.

As the ice beam continued to work its magic, Serapis began to slowly freeze, first with its head, then its neck, all the way down to its body, and finally affecting the water it was inhabiting.

Now, the entire lake has been frozen over. Serapis looked less like a monster and more like a really...REALLY detailed ice sculpture. Both Brandon and Garurumon were preparing for this, as they were in battle ready stances as Serapis continued to freeze.

"Now! Let's finish him! GREAT TWIN SLASHER!" Brandon yelled.

Cheesy 80's anime music began playing in the background as Brandon was saying that. The two rushed at Serapis and began to slice his remains to pieces at blindingly fast speeds, complete with black screen and tons of white slashes across the screen.

It suddenly cuts back to the events happening, as the background is white and begins to fade back in. The two are apart from each other, as they land back on the shore and strike a cool pose.

"Kicking all reason to the curb..." Garurumon said, as Serapis began to fall apart.

"...and going up and beyond the impossible!" Brandon said as Serapis' head fell to the frozen lake.

"IN THE NAME OF THE DIGITAL WORLD, WE SHALL SMITE ALL EVIL!" They both said together, still turned away from the now quartered frozen remains of Serapis, as the 80's anime music came to a climax. As soon as they finished, Serapis' body exploded, shattering the ice surrounding it.

The group cheered both of them, as Gomamon called for his fish friends to ferry the island back to the shore. Garurumon, having exhausted his power, changes back into Gabumon, as Matt embraces him in excitement.

"Great work out there, Gabumon!" Matt said.

"It was nothing, Matt. I had to save you." Gabumon said.

"You and Brandon really put forth a lot of effort. I was worried when you tuckered yourself out exhausting your Blue Blaster..." Matt said, worriedly.

"...Brandon may be nuts, sure. But he's a nice strategist." Gabumon said, looking back at him.

"It's no problem, really..." Brandon said, looking a bit flattered.

He then thought to himself. ("I don't wish to be a total glory hog here. But I need to fight on because Xana is going to put these guys at risk if I don't.")

Later that night, the children were talking with their Digimon. They eventually ended up striking up a topic which was an important one: the timely transformations of the Digimon.

"Well, according to the ancient lore of DigiWorld, we Digimon can Digivolve through a couple of ways. Either training ourselves, growing older, or the need to protect others." Tentomon said.

"So...when Matt was in danger, Gabumon Digivolved in order to prevent Serapis from drowning him, right?" Tai said.

"Correct. And remembering earlier on in the day with your encounter with DrillShellmon, Agumon became Greymon when you were in danger as well. We evolve at those times because we do not wish for you to succumb to the darker vices of the Digital World." Tentomon replied.

"As expected." Rob uttered.

"And as Agumon said to you earlier, we will not be able to stay in those forms forever. Extended use of a Digimon's Champion form can utterly drain it. If a Digimon pushes it a bit too far, it could put it into a coma; the higher the level, the more time spent in the form, the less energy a Digimon will have, and the longer the ensuing coma will be." Tentomon said again.

"That means you'll fall into a really deep sleep if you go Champion or higher for too long?" Mimi asked.

"Yes, Mimi. If that happens at the wrong time, the results could be absolutely cataclysmic." Tentomon said.

"Well, now we know why you guys need rest and food..." Joe said, worried as usual.

"Speaking of rest, I'm beat. Let's get the trolley on its wheels again and get a good night's sleep." Matt said.

They couldn't agree more. After a bit of effort trying to get the car back up, they got back inside and fell to sleep. Tai, Matt, and T.K were the only ones who did not go to the car, but stuck around the fire.

Matt simply played his harmonica, the tune a bit more upbeat than before, but still with that slow and soft tempo to it. T.K was fast asleep, his head gently resting on Matt's lap, as Tai was just sitting by, enjoying the music.

"So...wild day, huh?" Tai said, softly as to not wake T.K.

"Yep. At least we're safe for now. But what are we going to do with Brandon?" Matt asked in the same tone.

"That's a good question. Because of leading a bad guy to us, I didn't know whether to trust him at first...but now that I look back at it...he's a pretty good guy." Tai said.

"He's a bit on the...eh...crazy side, but yeah. He's pretty good natured, it seems." Matt replied.

"I can't believe he's hidden this fighting skill from us. But...he's protected us twice in one day with the combined efforts of Rob, Marie, and the Digimon this far with it. I suppose we _could_ trust him. After all, he's keeping us alive so far, right?" Tai said.

Matt paused for a bit and looked down at T.K. He was smiling and sleeping soundly. There was no doubt that they should thank their lucky stars that Brandon's on their side.

"...Yeah." Matt finally said, and went back to playing his harmonica again.

Xana, having witnessed the entire fight after escaping, was looking on. His facial expression was just dripping with contempt.

"Damn him and his 80's anime power." Xana said dryly.

"This means WAR now, and as I said before, if's it a war they want, it's a war they will get. Tomorrow, I guess it's time to turn up the heat a bit..."

Xana flew off into the night sky to prepare for tomorrow's plan. It wasn't going to be a pleasant day, at least he would make it that way.

Unintentional rhyming, yay! XD Anyways, sorry that I have not been able to update nearly as consistently as I thought I would, but I have an extreme tendency of getting distracted. I'm not dead yet, by George! Hopefully, I can get over this procrastination problem sooner or later.

Anyways, keep an eye out for the next chapters. The next three are the three episodes of the first season that I watched the most on a VHS tape that I own. I always enjoyed these episodes, even if I didn't know where the hell I was in the plotline at the time (and this says a lot, considering that I originally thought that the series ended after Myotismon's first 'defeat' and missed out on part of the plot). Nevertheless, the Digimon Wiki does wonders.

Also, another footnote here... I really gotta stop using the exact same dialogue from the episodes. If you can tell, the script near, during, and after the fight with the mechanically enhanced Seadramon changes drastically, for the most part. I didn't want to have to refer to YouTube constantly over and over again to catch up on any dialogue I may have missed. Not that I shouldn't do that, but it does get pretty tedious at times.

So, sorry that I did not update for a while, but as I have said, I procrastinate a lot and my fics sometimes go cold because of it. I still have yet to reach even ten chapters on even one of them. But don't worry. I'm not dead yet, I feel fine, and I hope you enjoy more of this stuff.

Next up: Biyomon Gets Firepower! Stay tuned.


	5. Biyomon Gets Firepower!

Digimon Adventure: A Slightly Darker Retelling

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*Diclaimer: I do not own Digimon or its characters. Or anything I happen to be ripping off or referencing (mind you, I don't always have the best imagination). All material belongs to its respective owners. I do own my characters.*

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[CHAPTER 2: I'm Blue in Purgatory]

{Chapter 4: Biyomon Gets Firepower!}

**BEGIN EPISODE**

Fresh from last night's fight, the group was up and walking again. The parts of the forest that weren't scorched from the hellfire that Serapis started had survived completely intact (don't ask, I don't know why it didn't spread quickly either). The group was walking about, and, typically, they were lost once again. There were various road signs all over some of the trees, but they weren't helping at all. In fact, they just either didn't make sense or were put there for the express purpose of confusing anyone who wandered into it.

Not much interesting was happening until something shot through the sky.

"Huh? What was that?" Sora said, coming out into a clearing of sorts with the group close behind.

It shot through the sky again. It wasn't exactly clear what it was or why it was there, but it made Brandon look rather uncomfortable every time it was making a pass.

"Is that a UFO?" Joe said.

"It looked more like a giant gear." Izzy said, just as perplexed as everyone else was.

"Whatever it was, it probably isn't too important." Tai said.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that..." Rob muttered again. He didn't seem to be the talkative sort.

T.K's foot then slipped down a steep slope and caught onto a root. Tai quickly caught him to make sure he didn't fall to his doom.

"Careful, T.K. That could've been a snake." Tai said to T.K.

"Uh...you _do_ realize that was just a tree root, right?" Brandon said, noting the dub script logic error.

"Oh...sorry." Tai apologized, realizing the fourth wall mistake there.

"Anyways...we need to try and find some intelligent life around this place." Tai said afterward, still looking slightly embarrassed. Brandon uttered 'sorry' to Tai, but he must've not heard it because he didn't respond.

This got Biyomon's attention.

"Sora, is he implying that we are not smart like a human is?" Biyomon asked Sora.

"Well...he's not saying you are stupid, but we do have to find some other people in this place. We just need to stick together and use teamwork to get through this mess. Hopefully by using that, we can successfully get out of this area and..." Sora was saying, until Biyomon interrupted her.

"Uh, Sora...?" Biyomon said. The group, save for Brandon, was leaving them behind.

"Thanks for listening, guys!" Sora said with sarcasm very evident in her voice.

She sighed. "Thanks for staying behind anyways, Brandon..."

"Hey, I agree with you one hundred percent. Nobody gets left behind or forgotten." Brandon said to Sora. This made her feel a bit better.

Brandon walked towards the group with both Sora and Biyomon.

"And to your right here, we are entering the Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs. Please do not use flash photography or attempt to take any of the signs down with you. No camcorders, please." Matt said, utilizing a bit of deadpan humor.

"I hope these guys realize that there are no humans here." Rob said to himself.

Minutes later, they come into a clearing once again. It lead to an arid desert filled with tons of telephone poles. The gear flew by again, this time crashing into a nearby mountain.

Naturally, as the group walked through the Desert of Useless Telephone Connections, they began to complain thoroughly.

"It's so hot, the heat is coming up through my socks..." T.K said.

"Don't worry, buddy... We'll make it though this desert soon..." Matt said. (Yep, avoided a logic error.)

"This heat is destroying my complexion." Mimi said, once again complaining to the high heavens.

"Is that all you complain about, Mimi? We'll be lucky to even survive this hike!" Joe said.

"You know, I kind of wish they would just be quiet and not complain about this desert." Marie said.

"Geez, what's gotten into you guys? Why the mean streak?" Brandon asked.

"I don't know. I guess we're just tired of this place. We've been here before, done this, done that, whatever." Rob said.

"Wait, what?" Brandon said.

"...Nevermind. Forget I said anything." Rob replied.

Brandon looked rather suspicious. Ken apparently had known something about this place, and now these two were giving off the same exact vibe.

Brandon decided to let it drop and answer about that at a later date.

"Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that these telephone poles have absolutely no connection between each other?" Sora said, looking around at the surrounding poles.

"Maybe they're alien replicas?" Izzy said.

"Hey...remember those phone booths? And that trolley car? Perhaps there could be some sort of connection." Mimi said. Arguably, that was the smartest thing she had said thus far.

"Maybe, but I haven't a clue how these got here." Izzy said.

"DOOMED! The sun's baked our brains and we are not thinking straight! WE'RE SCREWED!" Joe said, freaking out.

"Joe, calm down, man! We've only really been walking for two minutes!" Tai said.

Tentomon signaled to Izzy to come closer to him.

"Izzy, I think we need to find shade for Joe, and quick." Tentomon said.

Mimi then marched up right behind Joe and began to speak.

"You'll never believe what just happened to my favorite watch!" Mimi said with an oddly cheerful tone. The sentence she just said makes you think more along the lines of a rather disappointing event.

She brings out her compass. It's going a little haywire, but that's not what she's talking about.

"The sun just melted the numbers right off!" Mimi said in the same exact tone.

"You know, for someone who hates to hike, you sure do carry a lot of compasses." Tai said.

The compass began to spin wildly. The others we're surprised.

"Of course, none of them would be working..." Tai followed.

Izzy was examining the sand. "Hm...this sand appears to contain some traces of metal. That could be what's affecting the compass." Izzy said.

"Despite that, I think we should be looking for a water source. Otherwise, I think we're gonna end up dry husks of humans in this desert." Brandon said.

"Yeah... But I don't see anything for miles ahead of us. I don't know if we'll find anyone or they'll find us..." Tai said.

Mimi freaked. "HEEEEEEEEEEEELP! SOMEBODY HELP US!" Mimi yelled to the heavens.

**Meanwhile, in space...**

Xana was going about, doing his dirty work in his still being constructed space station. He was monitoring the entire area, then focused on the mountain.

"Zoom in to about 250%." Xana ordered to the computer. It complied, and a humanoid Digimon that was almost exclusively made of fire. He then zoomed into the same gear that crashed into the mountain.

"Ah, so he is beginning to take some action. It was only a matter of time before that happened."

"Since I have control over these as well, I better get that gear out of the rock."

He then pressed a button on his console, and the gear began to shift around in the rocks. The gear didn't budge, however.

"Oh, come on, you piece of fff..." Xana began to tap the button a bit to try and make it move.

**Back with the heroes...**

They were back walking through the desert again after Mimi's "episode".

Izzy was spouting technobabble again.

"I've taken some samples of the sand, measured the barometric humidity, and analyzed the relative humidity." Izzy said.

"And what did you find out?" Sora asked.

"It's really, _really_ hot." Izzy stated.

"Not a very complex answer there, Izzy. But I couldn't agree more." Brandon said.

"The sooner we find some shelter, the better..." Rob said, exhausted.

"...My head is baking... If I go on like this for too much longer, I'm going to look like a spoiled salad." Palmon said.

"Here, use my hat! You need it more than I do." Mimi said, giving Palmon her rather unwieldy hat. Probably one of her more selfless acts.

"...Thank you, Mimi." Palmon said in gratitude.

Biyomon stopped short, tired and beat by the humidity of the desert.

"Hold it...I need to stop for a minute... I don't think I can go any further..." Biyomon said.

"We just need to think positive. Let's pretend that it's raining." Sora said. Immediately, Biyomon jumped for joy.

"Yay! I absolutely adore the rain!" Biyomon said, rubbing her head affectionately against Sora's leg once again.

"Yeah, I do too, but it's time for a reality check! This is getting us nowhere! We should just turn around and leave this desert right now." Matt said.

Joe nodded in agreement.

"But that would mean retracing our steps further back into the desert, wasting more time and putting ourselves at the risk of dehydration even further." Brandon said.

"...That makes sense..." Matt said.

"Hold on, everyone..." Tai said, pulling out his telescope.

Something came into sight through his point of view.

"If I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing...it's not a mirage...it's real water!"

Through his scope, he saw a half sunken cruise liner in the midst of a lake, with several village huts nearby.

"Yes! This is great! Now all we need are some lemons, sugar, and some big fat ice cubes!" Joe said happily.

"If there's water nearby, then there could be people there too!" Izzy said.

"Water and food...I'm hungry enough to eat broccoli!" T.K said.

"What's broccoli? Is that a joke?" Patamon said.

"Guess our search for some shelter is over for now." Brandon said.

"It's not a village for humans, if that's what they're thinking." Rob said.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to look, does it?" Brandon said.

"Yeah, let's go!" Tai said.

And off they went to see this little village.

**Back in space...**

Now getting impatient, Xana was tapping the button furiously.

"WHY. WON'T. YOU. MOVE?" Xana said.

The gear was beginning to spin full stop now, as it burst from the rock it was embedded in.

"Finally! I've been spinning that thing for a couple minutes now. Now, let's hit our fire-starting target over there."

Xana controlled the gear's flight, all the way to the flaming Digimon. The gear struck the Digimon as it buried itself deep within its gut. The Digimon began to howl in pain as he felt the gear changing him a bit...

"Ooooh yeah! Direct hit! Now that he's been hit by the gear, I suppose it's time to intervene, should things go wrong."

"YO, HOLMES!"

What looked to be a fireman walked into the room. He's actually a robot that fights fires...or is supposed to.

"Y-Yes, sir?" Holmes said.

"We have a fire-starting mission to begin. Drink some of that hot sauce of yours and let's get ready to rumble." Xana ordered to Holmes.

"Okay...if you says so." Holmes responded. Although he was reluctant to do so, he drunk the hot sauce...and immediately began to change from socially awkward fire-fighting android, to psychopathic pyromaniac in the course of five seconds. His fireman's coat was halfway on, halfway off. He wore a Mexican poncho over his scarred body and his coat. His trousers were partially ripped and burnt. He had a simply crazy look in his eyes, and just could not stop breathing fire. He also wore a sombrero that had an active volcano replacing the cone on top.

He pulled out his flamethrower, and looked at Xana with his crazy grin. He had went through a Jekyll and Hyde like transformation. He was now Volcanohead Holmes

"Hola, boss! What'cha want me to burn now, huh?" Volcanohead Holmes said.

"Easy, Holmes. I don't want you burning my space station down. It's quite close to completion, and I don't wish to start over. I do need you to come with me, though." Xana said.

"OH BOY! MORE BURNY THINGS ON EARTH!" Holmes said, really hyper.

"Actually, we're not going to Earth. We're going to head to the Digital World."

"Okay...that's burny too, right?" Holmes asked.

"...yes..." Xana said, annoyed.

Holmes was giddy to burn the place down, so he went with Xana in his capsule to cause some more havoc in the Digital World.

**Back with the heroes...**

They had discovered a village all right. What they happened upon though, was not a civilization of humans, but a village whose population consisted entirely of Yokomon!

"Whoa. From far away, everything looked so huge." Tai said.

"But they're so cute and tiny!" Mimi said.

Biyomon began to ask some questions to the Yokomon.

"Okay, question. Who here knows where we can get a drink?" Biyomon said.

"And just what do giant Digimon drink?", a Yokomon said. Clearly, this was the first time they saw humans, so they had very little understanding about what a human ate or drink, or what they were.

"Well...I'm not a Digimon. I'm a human being." Sora said.

"What's a human being?", another Yokomon said.

"Oh boy..." Sora muttered.

She went and sat behind one of the huts. She listened as Biyomon continued to explain just how she Digivolved from her In-Training form to her Rookie form.

She explained that she Digivolved alongside the others when Kuwagamon was attacking them on their first day here. The Yokomon were fascinated by the story, as they were learning about their exploits so far. Sora looked back at Biyomon. She smiled at her, knowing that, to the Yokomon in the village she used to live in, she was a hero. She even brought up Xana, and when she told them of what he has been doing to the inhabitants, they looked absolutely mortified.

"...I know we had to be saved on more than one occasion, but...when Tai needed help...Agumon changed into Greymon to protect him. Gabumon did the same thing for Matt when he was being drowned by Serapis." Sora smiled to herself. "I guess we must be the luckiest kids alive."

Biyomon poked Sora on her cheek to get her attention.

"Sora, the Yokos are inviting us for dinner in their village! They're willing to share their food with all of us!" Biyomon said.

"Really?" Sora said.

The group was overjoyed to hear the news. Rob and Marie looked satisfied, as if they've been to this very same village before...

Izzy was thinking to himself about what they could offer. "Hm...I wonder what food they have? Perhaps some bone with meat, lettuce topped with fish, or..."

"WATER!" T.K said with joy, interrupting Izzy's train of thought.

Indeed, there was water coming from a fountain.

"It's not just any water! It's water from Mihirashi Mountain! It's the best water in the world!", another Yokomon said.

"Forget the world, Mihirashi Mountain water is the best water in the whole galaxy!" Tentomon chimed in.

However, back on the mountain itself, the flame Digimon had been overcome by the gear embedded in his abdomen. His body temperature skyrocketed as the water began to rapidly evaporate...

The water drained from the fountain almost immediately.

"What the hell...?" Brandon said.

"That sounds like an eruption!" Izzy said.

The fountain burst into a pillar of flame instantaneously after that.

"That's cool, but I still didn't get a drink!" T.K said, obviously not too happy that the fountain's become a place of heat death.

"Don't worry! The lake always has water!", one Yokomon said.

The group decided to take their word for it and head for the lake. But when they got there, it was already dried up completely. The ship was still there, trapped in the ground, but the water vanished.

"Okay, so the lake's gone AWOL. Anyone else worried?" Brandon said, partly snarking.

"Let's not panic, guys. I have an idea." Tai said.

Seconds later, at the well, Tai tossed the bucket down the well to retrieve some water. No splash, Captain...but there was the sound of something being vaporized by fire.

"Dry as a bone!" Matt said.

Tai was determined to find some water, so he pulled the pail back up...to find that all he brought up was the scorched stump of the rope...followed by a jet of fire shooting out of the well. Tai was freaking out, as were most of the Yokomon present at the well.

"Wait, does anyone remember that gear from earlier?" Matt said.

"It crashed into a hillside..." Izzy said.

"...and of all places, it happens to land at Mihirashi Mountain. It makes sense that it would cut off the water supply if it landed in any critical orifice." Brandon said.

"Which it didn't.", a familiar voice sounded from behind. They all turned around to find Xana standing there with one of his robotic accomplices.

"Xana! Can't you go bother someone else?" Joe said

"Silence, you gutless worm. The gear never landed in the water supply. In fact, I was monitoring where it was going. It simply got stuck in the rocky landscaping of the mountain. Then I forced it out and controlled its flight path from there on." Xana said.

"Then where did it land at?" Matt asked.

"It's less where it landed at, and more _whom_ it landed _in_. Namely, the guardian of Mount Mihirashi himself." Xana said.

Now the Yokomon looked dead beat horrified. "Oh no...you don't mean..."

"YES! Meramon, Guardian of Mihirashi Mountain, is the one I just infected with the Black Gear! He is now under my control." Xana then heard yelling in the distance, as Tai looked through his telescope.

"Oh, speak of the devil." Tai saw the flaming Meramon sliding down the mountain at high speed.

Meramon was going nuts, and felt like he was on fire, despite the fact that he was basically made of it.

"I...I'M BURNING! TOO HOT!" Meramon yelled.

"He burns anything he touches! But he never comes down from the mountain! This is strange behavior for him!", another Yokomon said. All of them were panicking now. Meramon was a high-level threat to the Yokomon. Trying to pit an army of In-Training Digimon against a Champion level one was simply suicide.

"Meramon is a firey Digimon. There's no reason he should be in pain with his own flames – that's supposed to be part of his nature." Palmon said.

Meramon let out a deranged laugh...but it sounded like it was a laugh of pain.

"This is weird...he's crying!" Tai said.

"_**BURNING BURNING BURNING BURNIIIIIIING!" **_Meramon said. He was absolutely insane at this point in time.

"It sounds like he's out of his mind with pain!" Sora said.

"What do we do?" Matt said.

Meramon let out a demented laugh as he slid down ever closer to his goal.

"EVERYONE TO THE CRUISE LINER!" Brandon called out. Everyone attempted to get on it, but Xana blocked the path with Holmes.

"Ah-ah-ah... I don't think so, guys. I'm afraid this cruise is canceled. Holmes, go crazy." Xana said.

Volcanohead Holmes then went berserk, cutting loose with his flamethrower and Molotov Cocktails. The children and Digimon dodged like crazy, but quite a few of the Yokomon weren't so lucky. They were hit by the flames, and plenty of them burned to death. Brandon tackled Holmes, as both fell off of the cliff.

The Yokomon caught in the flames were running around, panicking like crazy, as they slowly, painfully burned to death. Xana was watching with sinister delight and didn't see the attack being launched at him...

"SPIRAL TWISTER!" Biyomon shouted, as she hit Xana with her attack, knocking him backwards. Biyomon then attempted to put out the flames, while Sora, completely in tears, watched in horror as the flames licked away at the Yokomon.

[BOSS: Volcanohead Holmes, Xana, and Meramon]

The other Digimon were also fighting Xana off, but he proved to be a bit more powerful than anticipated. Therefore, Agumon and Gabumon figured that it was time to transform.

**Agumon...Digivolve to...**

**GREYMON!**

**Gabumon...Digivolve to...**

**GARURUMON!**

The two Champion levels then began to duke it out with the nine-foot-five tall lizard, as he pulled out his Bumper Blade and fought back.

Brandon was quick on the trigger of his SPAS-12 military shotgun, but Holmes continually dodged a lot of shells fired at him. Brandon was getting tired of these aim and shoot games, so he put away his shotgun and rushed at Holmes, tackling him once again, and opting for a beatdown, began to throw as many punches as he could land on Holmes.

As the fights raged on, Meramon had already reached the foot of the mountain and was now racing out of the Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs and across the Desert of Useless Telephone Communications. He was coming at the village fast.

The children and the remaining Yokomon (there were still hundreds left) made a break for the cruise ship, as Rob and Marie stayed behind to assist in the fight with Xana. Xana was getting hammered, but he was also smacking the other Digimon around like they were nothing.

Biyomon was not present in the fight against Xana. Sora noticed this, and was wondering where she was.

Biyomon was watching Meramon race towards the village at the speed of a Lamborghini (or possibly even faster than that), as she stood her ground to defend the village she grew up in.

Holmes had dealt with Brandon, if only temporarily, and was sneaking up behind Biyomon, with ax in hand...

Brandon had just barely made it up the cliff just in time to see that Holmes was preparing the killing blow on Biyomon.

"BIYOMON! LOOK OUT!" Brandon shouted.

She turned around, and ducked just in time. She began to attack Holmes with her Spiral Twister...and then Meramon came barreling though. Biyomon had to dodge fast. She let Meramon run head first into Holmes. Meramon got up and tossed Holmes aside like he was nothing.

Sora was running to get to Biyomon before she got her goose cooked.

Biyomon was dodging fireballs left and right. Brandon was trying to beat down Xana the rest of the way, and Sora was wanting to protect Biyomon from harm. There was no way she was going to get back up there, though...

"Okay, big boy! You think you're hot stuff? Take this! SPIRAL TWISTER!" Biyomon struck Meramon with a Spiral Twister, but it didn't seem to do any real damage, and Volcanohead Holmes was slowly getting back up...

Biyomon kept hitting Meramon with these attacks, but once again, it looked like it wasn't doing anything. In fact, he grew in size and power with enough attacks.

"IS THAT THE BEST YOU HAVE TO OFFER, WEAKLING?" Meramon said.

The Digimon has finished beating the hell out of Xana, who was now unconscious, and were now intent on helping Biyomon.

"FIREBALL!" Meramon shouted, as he charged up a rather large fireball in his hand.

Biyomon was worried now, and was trying to back off...but it was of no use. He tossed it, and it exploded with extreme force. It knocked Biyomon out cold, as she fell to the ground below, where the other children were.

"No! She's hit! Oh...Biyomon..." Sora said.

The Digimon were giving their all...but it was only making him bigger and more powerful. Even Brandon's attacks weren't helping matters.

"If it's not the fire that's affecting him, it's not heartburn..." Izzy said.

"Maybe he's got growing pains!" Matt said.

"Growing pains?" Izzy said, rather unamused.

"Matt, this isn't the time to be joking!" Joe said, unanimously agreeing with Izzy.

Volcanohead Holmes got up at last, and looked towards Meramon...

"Th-that's a good meal right there..." Volcanohead Holmes said. He walked up to Meramon as he grew much larger than ever before...and began to eat him.

"WHY DO I HAVE TO SUFFER SO?" Meamon yelled...just before he was consumed by Holmes. Soon, there was nothing left of the giant Digimon.

Holmes belched, letting loose a small stream of flames...then suddenly, he began to change. He began to glow as white light enveloped him...and he began to change form...

"What the? He's changing?" Matt said.

He was indeed changing. The white light reached the climax...and then Holmes appeared again...this time, in a completely new form.

His body was now an industrial factory-punk type body. His chest was mostly composed of a boiler. Inside of that boiler was the heart of the flame; Meramon. Holmes' face didn't look demented anymore. It looked cold, and heartless now, but the eyes were full of flame and death. His arms were part molten lava, part heated metal. He was almost like as if someone combined a steam-powered locomotive with a steel mill in a blender and added Calcifer's psychotic twice-removed cousin as a flavor enhancer.

Holmes was now a living, breathing, mechanized boiler. And Meramon was the very thing powering this new form.

[TRUE BOSS: BoilerMeramon]

He quickly smacked the Digimon still in the village over the side of the cliff. Brandon, Rob and Marie tried to attack him, but he was simply too powerful. He sucked the oxygen out of the air to prevent them from attacking first, and then knocked them over the side of the cliff as well. Sora was not responding at all. She was having a major blue screen of death, first over the fact that so many Yokomon got killed by Holmes and Xana without remorse, and second over the fact that Biyomon had taken a hit for the group so that they would be safe.

Biyomon got up, and saw BoilerMeramon standing over the fallen heroes. To say the least, he was massive.

"READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" BoilerMeramon screamed as he jumped off of the cliff to the children below. He was hell bent on destroying the ship and rubbing out the Yokomon village.

Brandon regained oxygen and came around, as did Biyomon. Rob and Marie also got up.

"...Now were all in trouble... Xana knew this would happen...and now we're paying the price. I cannot allow his flunky to win. My friends need my help!" Biyomon said as Sora's Digivice began to glow brightly.

Biyomon began to transform into her Champion form.

**Biyomon...Digivolve to...**

**BIRDRAMON!**

BoilerMeramon was about to land and mash the children into paste. Sora looked up, and got worried...but then she was relieved when she saw Birdramon picking up the fire-powered fiend and dropping him back down on the cliff forcefully.

Birdramon flew away from BoilerMeramon, as he taunted her.

"HEY, WHERE YOU GOING, BIRDRAMON? SCARED?" BoilerMeramon said. He charged yet another fireball, and tossed it at Birdramon. It struck her in the back, causing her to lose a little bit of altitude.

"Don't turn your back on him!" Sora called out.

Birdramon made another pass towards BoilerMeramon, as he continually pelted her with fireball after fireball.

Brandon got yet another brainstorm. He began speaking to Rob and Marie.

"Guys, I have a clawshot with me right now. Whatever attack Birdramon may do might not break through that armor of his. Which is why we need to get up there to Birdramon, and when her attack is launched, we drop into it, and go full force into BoilerMeramon." Brandon said.

"Sounds a little unorthodox, but it might work..." Marie said.

Brandon aimed his clawshot carefully, making sure its sights are trained on one of Birdramon's feet. He launches it as it goes a long way.

"Hold on to me, you two." Brandon says.

The clawshot grabs on as it propels the three to her claw. They reach the claw and climb up Birdramon's body to get to her head as she flies.

They hold on tightly to make sure that they do not fall off. She soon stops, then charges her attack...

"METEOR WING!" Birdarmon called.

"NOW!" All three jumped off of Birdramon's head as she launched her attack.

Birdramon shot her attack at BoilerMeramon with all of her might. The three were enveloped in the attack and began to shoot towards the flame-belching behemoth. Brandon, Rob, and Marie all shot forward further with all of their might. The flames began to turn blue and burn hotter thanks to the power resonating from the assistance in the attack.

Then Brandon pulled out his sword, charged up a lazer slightly, and spun around. The attack began to spiral with enough midair torque, as the three sped towards him. Then...

Impact. The monster, silent. The flame, expelled.

Meramon was being blasted through his body and out the back side of BoilerMeramon. Seconds later, the three crash-landed on the cliff. The resulting impact had enough force and power behind it that it sent the gear shooting up into the sky. It exploded and atomized on the spot.

"That was the gear! They did it! That must've been what made him crazy!" Tai said, impressed.

"Well, if you had a gear stuck inside of you, you'd probably get a bit cranky too!" Matt said.

"We may have to study into this a bit more..." Izzy said.

Meramon, now with the gear completely removed from his gut, shrunk down to his original size. The three got up and off of Meramon (how they don't get burned by him is a mystery) as the dust cleared away.

BoilerMeramon was still standing, surprisingly. He turned towards the trio and attempted to walk over to them to try and kill them. But, without Meramon to power him, he couldn't manage the energy, and fell to the bottom of the cliff. The children had already gotten a safe distance away, so they were safe from the remains falling on them.

The monster sparked and exploded in a huge fireball. From the fireball, shooting out of the explosion like a bottle rocket was Volcanohead Holmes, now battered and back to his original form.

"I wanted to burn more things... VOLCANOHEAD HOLMES IS BLASTING OFF AGAIN!", he said as he shot off into the sky, disappearing in a star.

Xana had disappeared once again, another sure sign that he would live another day. Brandon didn't look too pleased, but he figured that he'd punish him sometime soon.

Birdramon de-digivolved and returned to Sora.

"Wow... Every time I'm in danger, Biyomon comes to my rescue. That's what I call a friend!" Sora said, as Biyomon fluttered to Sora.

"Are you okay, Sora?" Biyomon asked. Sora embraced her close friend.

"You did great, Biyo! I was worried, but I'm so proud of you..." Sora said.

"I just didn't want to think what would happen to you if Xana's freak experiment got a hold of you guys... I was really worried, Sora." Biyomon said, her tone getting a bit somber.

"At least you saved us from BoilerMeramon. Brandon and the others helped your attack burst through his dense armor. I don't know what would've happened if he didn't think that up." Sora said, satisfied with the result either way.

The fire shooting up from the fountain, well, and mountain subsided, bringing the water back to the village.

Later that afternoon, Meramon was explaining to the Yokomon that his rampage was completely involuntary.

"The last thing I remember was getting hit by that gear, and then I went nuts. And then I came to, looking at you guys." Meramon said.

"The gear must've had a conditioning spell on it. That might explain why you went berserk." Izzy said.

"Well...I feel much better now that that gear has been knocked out of me. I need to head back to the mountain. Lord only knows how many water bandits tried to get in and got fried." Meramon said, as he got up and sped back across the desert.

The group bid him farewell, and the group was prepared to take leave of the place, but Biyomon said otherwise.

"Speaking of which, we almost forgot about that dinner the Yokos promised us!" Biyomon said.

"My tummy's ready for some action..." T.K said.

"Yeah, let's eat before we start moving along again." Brandon said.

The dinner in question looked a little weird. It looked like a bunch of pale green peas or something.

"This is dinner? I can't even tell if it's been cooked..."Tai said, a bit perplexed at the appearance of the food.

Biyomon was happily digging away at her food. Sora was looking at her food with the same befuddled expression.

"Eat as much as you want! There's plenty for seconds!" Biyomon said in-between chewing her food.

"There's probably a good reason for that!" Joe said, having not even touched his food.

"You know, I was afraid that was what you were going to say." Sora said.

"Hm...this smells like broccoli. Maybe it tastes better!" T.K said, beginning to pig out on his food.

"Has anyone noticed how much we talk about food?" Matt said, beginning to eat his own food as well.

"Eh...I'm not hungry..." Sora said, not really feeling like eating this odd new cuisine.

"I'm going to skip this one too. I can't really eat on an empty stomach." Joe said.

"Dude, you just contradicted yourself again! Just eat and enjoy yourself!" Brandon said, chowing down his food.

"...Geez. Tough crowd." Joe said, deciding that eating _is_ better than starving anyways.

Sora chuckled at Brandon's response to Joe. She then looked at Biyomon and decided that having her as a friend would be worth it in this world.

"For a little Digimon, she sure has a huge heart." Sora thought to herself, as she watched Biyomon happily eat her food.

**Meanwhile...**

Xana had escaped back up to his still under construction space station. He was monitoring the group's progress with utter contempt.

"Well, I see that Holmes has failed in his mission to kill these little brats. And not even Meramon was enough to burn down that damn village." Xana muttered.

"I suppose that I will need another gear sent out."

He then pressed a button on the console and the video feed switched from the village to a person shrouded in darkness. His features weren't clear to make out, but he had huge tattered wings, red eyes, and was wearing leather. Lots and lots of leather.

"I presume you're here because the first gear that was sent out was destroyed?", the figure in darkness said.

"Well, duh. If it didn't get destroyed, then I wouldn't be here now asking for more. I have two targets in mind." Xana said.

"What two targets do you wish to launch at, my liege?", the mysterious figure answered.

"Hm...well, the Abandoned Factory, for one. And...then...Toy Town. They'll either get lodged in something or someone." Xana said.

"I shall send two gears out to those locations as soon as possible, my liege.", the mysterious figure said.

Xana smirked and nodded, then switched his view back to the village.

"You children will rue the day you crossed my path. And humanity and Digikind will rue the day that they shunned me and my genius. But Brandon better be praying that he doesn't piss me off completely. Otherwise, I won't hold back..." Xana said.

He laid back in his throne, looking onward and poising to strike again once the gears have settled.

**Alright, that's another chapter knocked off the list. We're making some good time, and I had almost got this chapter finished out, when procrastination struck again. Yeah, I can't manage time worth crap. But then again, if I can at least hit ten chapters on this story, that'll be something of a milestone for me. Anyways, look forward to the rest of the story.**

**Next up: Kabuterrimon's Electro Shocker.**

**Stay tuned, for any of those readers out there.**


	6. Kabuterimon's Electro Shocker

Digimon Adventure: A Slightly Darker Retelling

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*Diclaimer: I do not own Digimon or its characters. Or anything I happen to be ripping off or referencing (mind you, I don't always have the best imagination). All material belongs to its respective owners. I do own my characters.*

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[CHAPTER 2: I'm Blue in Purgatory]

{Episode 5: Kabuterimon's Electro Shocker}

**BEGIN EPISODE**

The children were beat and tired after what had happened yesterday. They had to save hundreds of Yokomon from a deranged pyromaniac android and fend him off as well. Meramon had gone insane from the gear that had hit him, but the kids didn't know whether it was connected to Xana or something else entirely. All they knew so far is that it makes Digimon go completely insane should one get into them. They were already back on the road and marching through a desert with a few trees scattered here and there. It was really **_hot_**, and it was pretty well known by this point.Seems the Digital World doesn't have a raincheck for cool breezes, but that's beside the point.

"Didn't we pass this place before?" Sora said.

"We can't have already went around the planet!" Joe said, worried.

Mimi fell to her knees, just simply tired. T.K fell backwards, exhausted. Gomamon was barely scraping along the ground, dehydrated.

"I think it's time to take a break..." Brandon uttered, the heat also beginning to get to him as well..

"No kidding." Rob said.

Izzy was now fiddling with his computer a bit, trying to make it work a bit. However, it seemed that it was still a bit off and defunct.

"Hey, look. Izzy's messing with his computer again. I think he's trying to message some aliens." Tai said.

"Guys, don't be mean." Brandon said. Then again, everyone had only really known each other for a month and never really spoke with each other or did anything of interest. It explains why everyone was simply being jokers and didn't seem to care much for each other. But as we know, Character Development will eventually kick in and change all of that.

He sighed in a bout of brief frustration. "The connection's still crashed and the warranty's expired!", he said, frankly not too pleased with this outcome. If there was one thing Izzy didn't like, it was his computer crapping out on him, and it rarely did, being a Pineapple Model III Laptop.

Tai, being his usual wise-ass self, took it from Izzy's lap and began to bang on it.

"I know how you can boot it up! You just have to make some subtle adjustments!" Tai said, slapping the laptop continuously. That wasn't exactly being subtle, but Izzy freaking out on Tai's actions were justified.

"HEY! Are your brain cells malfunctioning?" Izzy said. Although a Pineapple III was known for its durability, it wasn't THAT durable.

"Geez, you're acting like I'm hurting the dumb thing!" Tai said, looking hurt.

"It's too bad your brain isn't as big as your hair. He doesn't want his computer being broken, so please stop it." Sora said. If she had said anything about getting fingerprints all over it, it would've made little sense.

Tai decided that Sora was correct and left Izzy to sort the mess out. However, looking off into the distance yielded an interesting sight.

Theere looked to be black plumes coming from the horizon. That can only mean one thing.

Smoke.

"Hm...does anyone else see this? I'm going to go check it out." Tai said, running off again.

Brandon said nothing, as he followed Tai and Agumon to whatever was over on the horizon.

"The attention span of a gnat." Joe said.

"Don't worry about him." Matt said.

Izzy was still tinkering with his laptop. Thankfully for him, he got it booted up.

"Okay, good... We have graphics...we have sound... Beautiful! Up and running!" Izzy said, now that his computer was booted up. However, a battery with a lightning bolt was flashing in the rightmost corner.

"But it indicates that the battery needs recharging... I could've sworn that I had recharged it days ago." Izzy said, perplexed.

"Guys, come quick!" Tai yelled.

"You have to see this!" Brandon yelled as well.

The group ran over to see what Tai and Brandon had found. As they approached it, the place they were standing in front of got bigger and bigger.

What they had stumbled upon this time was a long since abandoned factory. A factory out here? It was a strange commodity, but the children remembered seeing the phone booths, the trolley car, the telephone poles, the derelict cruise liner at the Yokomon Village...there had to be at least some sort of connection to all of this odd riff-raff.

Not wishing to question how it got there and stand around, they made their way down to the factory.

"I wonder what they make in here?" Joe said.

"Maybe they have a factory outlet mall here! We could get some killer deals!" Mimi said.

"I'd hate to say it...but I don't think there's anyone here." Matt said.

Although this factory looked like it was here for years, everything looked brand new. There was little grime or rust on the equipment. There were some spots of age here and there, but other than that, everything looked to be in perfect working order.

They walked deeper inside. Gears were turning, machines were running, and the manufacturing belts were moving and producing consistently, but there was no sign of anyone here.

"Who's running the equipment?" Matt said again.

"I don't know, but I think that it's working fine by itself." Izzy answered.

The gears looked brand-new as well. Not a spot of rust or fatigue. It was running like a...well...a well oiled machine (ba-dum-tish).

"Whoever was here last must've left the equipment running..." Rob muttered.

Brandon had the same feeling. Although he didn't feel unnerved by it all, he felt that something was suspicious about this whole set-up.

The group was wandering further ahead to another catwalk. Brandon picked up the pace so that he wouldn't get lost.

**Meanwhile, back in the space station...**

Xana was monitoring the two gears sent out. One had landed in the satisfactory being. The other was being a bit more uncooperative. It was spiraling all over the place and not responding to any of the commands given to it. It was over the factory, yet none of the kids were paying any attention to it. Luck of the draw for Xana; if they knew where it was, they'd have destroyed it already.

He was getting annoyed at how glitchy this thing was, and rung up his ally once again.

"YO! What kind of joke is this?" Xana yelled at the figure in dark.

"I apologize for this setback, my liege. I had to move fast, because your target in the factory was getting closer to the requisite area. It is only 95 percent complete. Time is of the essence.", the mysterious figure said.

"95 percent? Then explain the laser-burnt behavior!" Xana said.

"I need to iron out all of the kinks before I send it out. If not done correctly, it will not fly properly, and therefore, it will act like it is acting now. However, it will recognize when that foolish robot is in the vicinity and make its way into the area you requested.", the figure said.

"Gee, thanks for the programming lesson. Next time, build the gears properly! If this and the next gear fail, I want new ones prepared for future events."

"I shall see to it that the gears are made ahead of time. Speaking of which, the android has been knocked out by my disciples.", the figure said.

"Just now?" Xana asked.

"Yes. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to begin working on some more gears. Your equipment is working nicely and in our favor.", the figure said.

Xana shut the communication monitor down to standby, and focused on the glitched gear. It was still doing barrel rolls and loop-de-loops uncontrollably.

He sighed. "Sometimes, I hate my job...", he muttered to himself, as he continued to struggle for control over the gear, albeit nonchalantly.

**Back with the kids...**

Now out onto the catwalk, the group was still looking for people.

"HELLO? Is anyone here?" Tai yelled out. All he got back in response was his voice echoing throughout the factory.

"This place is utterly abandoned. There's no humans here." Rob said.

"Rob, we know. We're just trying to look first, okay?" Brandon said.

"Don't go any further in that direction!" Biyomon said.

The others stopped, as Joe questioned why.

"Why not go in this direction? It's just as good as any other direction!" Joe said.

The gear finally noticed that the target was in place, and shot into the factory. It hit the target area with such force that the resulting sounds could be heard a ways away where the kids were standing.

"No, wait! I hear something. Down in that direction!", she said, pointing to another two dark hallways in the bowels of the factory.

The group split up. One had been composed of Mimi, Matt, T.K, Izzy, Rob, and Marie. The other was composed of Tai, Sora, Joe, and Brandon.

Group #1 continued down the hall, and noticed a door there, marked "POWER SUPPLY ROOM".

"Maybe the noise came from in here?" Tai said.

The group opened the door. Immediately, Izzy was amazed. It was a giant battery! And it was connected to a gear powered generator!

"Prodigious! This thing has the potential to keep my computer running for good! I wonder if there's a way to access its power?" Izzy said, bewildered by the giant battery.

The other group was walking down the other hall, when they came across a room with no door. Inside, a large robot was de-powered and looked to be stuck in the gears. A couple of dents could be seen on his body.

"It looks like a busted robot." Brandon said.

"It's not. It's Andromon" Agumon said.

"What? You're telling us that this hunk of junk is a Digimon?" Tai said, utterly confused.

"Yes, and he's highly advanced, too!" Agumon responded.

"The poor guys must've gotten stuck in the gears somehow! Maybe if we work together, we can get him out of there!" Tai said.

Brandon looked a bit worried. He was staring at the dents in the robot. If it was an accident, Andromon wouldn't be in his currently battle-damaged condition. This wasn't an accident, he figured.

Brandon decided to help them, and hope for the best.

Back with Izzy's group, Izzy was putting his hands on the battery. The others were ondering what he was trying to do.

"Izzy, what are you doing?" Matt said.

"I'm trying to tap into this power source! If I can get this baby to fire up, maybe I can connect to the Internet and call for some help!" Izzy said. If it meant that they could get some rescue on the way, then they could leave once and for all.

Returning to Brandon's group, they were trying to pull Andromon loose from the machinery. He wasn't budging whatsoever. In the time of the efforts, Tai lost hold of one of Andromon's arms and stumbled backwards. He ended up crashing into a lever, which activated the gears. While it caused Andromon's body to shake loose from the gears, it also caused the black gear stuck in the machine to embed itself in Andromon's left leg.

The group had managed to free Andromon from the vices of the machine. Andromon was beginning to move his face, it seemed.

"Hey, I think he's coming to!" Agumon said.

"What he needs is a couple of whacks!" Tai said, winding up. Everyone save for the Digimon tackled Tai to make sure he didn't knock Andromon over the head.

Agumon, however, made his move and whacked Andromon on the forehead. Everyone was visibly shocked, as Andromon began to speak.

"I...AM...ANDROMON...", he said, coming back online.

"Oh man...this reminds me of a movie where a robot came to eat people..." Joe said.

"He looks friendly enough. And if we be nice to him, he'll be nice to us." Sora said...as his sights were being set on her...

Andromon, under the influence of the Black Gear, was anything _but_ friendly. He grabbed Sora by her leg and held her upside down.

"Forget what I said about him being friendly!" Sora said, frightened.

"Andromon is one of the most power Digimon of all! His body is a tireless machine, capable of almost anything!" Tentomon said.

"I SHALL PUNISH ALIEN INTRUDERS!" Andromon said. His eyes were glowing blue, and his pupils had become that all familiar symbol.

"Oh, son of a bitch." Brandon said. If Meramon's attack was tied to that Black Gear, the Gears must be connected to Xana in some way.

"Let's give him everything we've got!" Tai said.

Biyomon flew up and attempted a Spiral Twister. It hit, but it only seemed to bother Andromon. The hulking robot tosses Sora into both Tai and Agumon's arms. They landed on their behinds hard, as Andromon marched towards them.

Brandon's eyes darted around the room, looking for any possible object that could impede this new threat. His eyes wandered up to the support beams handing from the ceiling.

"Agumon, the beams!" Brandon said.

Agumon looked up, and saw exactly what Brandon was talking about. He shot some Pepper Breath up at the ropes keeping them from falling, and Andromon was standing right underneath them.

The resulting heat seared through the ropes, causing them to snap, and send the beams to the floor. Or rather, on top of the mighty foe.

"Boy, he's gonna have one ugly migrane." Tai said.

For some reason, Brandon donned some anime shades and screamed "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" at the top of his lungs.

The group looked at him in a bizarre fashion. Like, a WTF reaction.

"Eh, sorry. Force of habit." Brandon said, slightly embarassed.

Not wishing to question what Brandon just pulled, they began to run away from the scene of the crime, knowing Andromon was down, but not out.

Back with Izzy's group again, the others had wondered off to watch the production lines out of boredom. They were making some odd machines. Some of them looked suspiciously like weapons.

Izzy had finally found a door on the large power source. He opened it, and was once again amazed at what he saw. Inside were a ton of large rectangular tablets which had all sorts of bizarre writings on it.

"What do you suppose this means, Izzy?" Tentomon asked.

"These look to be binary annotations of sort. A computer program. A very complicated program indeed." Izzy said, studying one tablet.

He put his hand to one and rubbed off part of one symbol. The production line the group was at froze completely. They weren't moving either. In fact, the entire area just...stopped.

Not so much for Tai's group. They were running away from Andromon, when the lights apparently decided to have a fit and go dark.

"Who turned out the lights?" Tai said.

"I get hives from the dark..." Joe said.

"No you don't, you pansy." Brandon muttered to himself.

They heard growling. It was definitely Andromon. He had gotten out of the beams and was now tracking them down again.

"Uh...oh. Maybe we should keep moving so we don't have to confront him..." Tai said.

"I'm all for that..." Joe said, nervously.

"Or we could just stand here frozen until Andromon gets at us." Brandon said, snarking.

"Please tell me you're joking, Brandon..." Joe said.

The group decided to sneak away, as Andromon began to target them again.

"You know, shouldn't we be running for our lives instead of channeling Solid Snake?" Joe said, whispering in a panicky tone.

"INTRUDERS SIGHTED. AND ANDROMON DOESN'T LIKE INTRUDERS." Andromon said, making his hand spin up. It soon began to look like a drill, as he thrust his arm into the air.

"**LIGHTNING BLADE!**", he yelled, as he swing his spinning hand like a sword. It send out a crescent like projectile flying straight at the group. They took swift notice and dove off to their left to avoid the electrified projectile.

Meanwhile, Izzy was still in the battery, befuddled as ever.

"Smooth move, Izzy. I guess I can scratch that theory.", he said.

"Is it possible that I deleted the wrong program?"

Tentomon turned around to answer him. "I think that's a distinct possibility, Izzy! Why don't you try to _un-delete_ it?", he offered.

"Capital idea!" Izzy said. He pulled out a blue marker.

"A stroke of metallic paint...right...here!" Izzy said, retracing the part of the symbol he erased. As soon as she shape was completed again, power returned to the factory.

"Voila!"

The manufacturing belt began to move again. The group wasn't frozen after all, but they were wondering what just happened.

"That's rather mysterious."

"And just what's so mysterious about this, Izzy?" Tentomon said.

"Normally, batteries run on an acidic chemical reaction, which creates a current of electricity. This one produces its own current independently!" Izzy mused, becoming more and more interested in how this place works.

"And what does that mean in plain English for those of us who didn't catch your inane engineering?" Tentomon asked.

"Give me a nanogear." Izzy said. Must mean 'give me a second'.

"I'll even give you three." Tentomon said.

Izzy kept typing on his computer until he spoke again.

"If I can decode this particular program...then I can trace its base functions and figure a way out of here!" Izzy said, still working hard.

Futher above the factory, we rejoin Tai's group, still running away from Andromon. They had reached a catwalk, and Andromon wasn't far behind. Brandon was running backwards, firing rockets galore at Andromon. Although he guessed that the metallic frame was keeping him from taking too much damage, he was trying to slow him down as much as he could while the others were running.

"THIS...IS...NOT...GOOD...I...DON'T...LIKE...THIS...AT...ALL..." Joe said, his words maching the rhythm of his running.

Andromon was lining up another shot, as was Brandon with another homing missile.

"LIGHTING BLADE! AND FIRE!" Andromon said, letting another Lighting Blade fly. Brandon shot a homing missile at the same time, but it sliced clean through the missile. The group had to jump from the catwalk and hang onto the guardrails. Brandon had to jump on the guardrails in-between the Digimon and kids' hands to dodge it, and even then, he barely cleared it. It crashed into the next tower ahead.

"HEAR ME, INTRUDERS. ANDROMON WILL EXACT HIS VENGEANCE!" Andromon said, still marching towards the kids. Brandon was rummaging through his pockets, presumably looking for another rocket type weapon.

"Vengeance? We're the ones who jump-started you, remember?" Tai said, taking great care to not lose his grip, lest a long fall await him. Brandon pulled out an orange and yellow rocket launcher. He fired a shot that yielded three rockets spiraling towards him.

Back to Izzy, he was still working on the computer, trying to crack the code.

"I admire the way you keep working while your friends are out having fun. Don't you ever feel sort of...left out?" Tentomon said.

"Not at all!" Izzy said.

"This means you'd much rather be around puzzles than people." Tentomon repsonded.

"Why not? It's much more fun trying to crack a cryptogram that nobody else can figure out!" Izzy said.

"Well, I could think of a few fun things, like relaxing on the beach and not being trapped in a small room with no exit. But that's just me." Tentomon said again.

"But I want to learn more about this place. And I also want to learn more about you Digimon. Try to prove some of my theories." Izzy said.

"What's to theorize about? What's the big mystery? I am who I am, I'm not hiding anything." Tentomon said.

"Really?" Izzy wondered.

"I simply cannot understand the pre-occupation with who you are. Is there some kind of deep, dark secret in your origins?" Tentomon wondered.

Izzy looked worried. Tentomon just hit the nail on the head. There _was_ something Izzy was hiding. He flashed back to that one night...

**FLASHBACK**

_Izzy was looking through the crack in his open door. His parents were talking to each other about...something._

_His mother spoke first._

"_Don't you think that it's about time we told Izzy the truth, dear?", she said._

"_No, I'm afraid that if we told him now, it might be too big of a shock.", his father said, unbeknownst to the fact that Izzy was eavesdropping._

"_I know you're trying to do what's best for him, but once he finds out, he'll be upset that we didn't tell him sooner...", his mother said again. Izzy's eyes were getting misty._

"_Well...we just can't think about that now...", his father said._

"_Izzy? Izzy?", another voice was saying._

**END FLASHBACK**

"Izzy!" Tentomon said. Izzy snapped back into the present.

"Oh, uh...what did you say?" Izzy said, still a bit taken aback by what he had learned that night.

"You were off in another world. Look at your screen." Tentomon said.

Izzy did, and was a bit surprised. The data he had typed was getting all funky.

"It's acting rather strangely. Perhaps you should stop focusing on the problem and start looking for the solution.", he followed.

He was still shocked.

"Your friends are in trouble. Can't you feel it in your bones?"

Izzy's Digivice was beginning to glow. This might have been the cause of the data getting funky.

"Ah! This thing is glowing!" Izzy finally said.

Back to the others in Izzy's group, they were watching the items assembled being taken apart.

"Wow, that's productive! It puts these things together, and then takes them apart!" Matt said, as they watched as the machine took apart the strange objects..but strangely left some of them intact.

Back to Izzy, he was still in awe on what he was seeing.

"Tentomon to Izzy, are you reading me?" Tentomon said, wondering if Izzy was listening to him at all.

The scrambled data faded to a wire frame rendering of the factory they were in as it zoomed out to a wire frame rendering of an island.

"This is just scientific speculation, but I think I have stumbled onto something more than just a computer game, and I am about to abandon my alien theory as well!" Izzy said, beginning to get the picture.

However, despite the new discoveries, Tentomon was beginning to electronically fry.

"Ow...Ow...OW! It's burning up in here! Do something, quickly! I'm being zapped!" Tentomon said, frantically dancing in pain.

"What's going on? HEY!" Izzy said, worried about his partner.

"Ooh! OW! I cant stand it! HELP!" Tentomon said.

Looking back to his Digivice, Izzy was wondering if it was the cause of Tentomon's quote-unquote "dance routine".

"Is it...short-circuiting?" Izzy wondered.

"Mercy! Mercy! YIKES! I'm dancing like I've never danced before!" Tentomon said, the pain spiking more.

It was a bit of a sacrifice, but Izzy figured that he would have to shut down his laptop.

"I'm disconnecting the power! Now I may never figure out the mystery. Oh well..." Izzy said, as he put his laptop into a hard reset.

Once the power was off, Tentomon was calmed almost instantly. The crevices in his body, which were glowing turquoise a second ago, had stopped burning and glowing completely.

"Oh...I don't like computers..." Tentomon said, calming down from his five-alarm freak out.

Izzy looked back to his Digivice. It had been blinking seconds ago, and now it wasn't.

"What happened to this thing?" Izzy wondered.

Back with Brandon and company, Andromon was still advancing towards them. The Tri-Rocket Launcher had done some damage, but it wasn't quite enough to stop him.

"I WILL LAY MY VENGEANCE UPON YOU INTRUDERS!" Andromon said, still making his way towards the kids.

"Oh, yeah? Well, let's see you try, tin can!" Tai said, jumping from the guardrail he was hanging from and landed in a nearby crane.

He started to man the controls, and swung the crane towards Andromon.

"Will you stop taunting the deranged android?" Joe said, still barely hanging for his life.

The crane's hook connected, as Tai pulled the red lever. The crane hoisted the autonomous android high into the air. Tai clumb the neck of the crane and lept back down to the catwalk. Brandon was helping the others get back on as well. Tai gave Brandon some help, and once everyone was present and accounted for, they made a break for it.

"PROGRESS INTERRUPTION! ALTITUDE READINGS ABNORMAL!" Andromon said, struggling to get down from the crane.

**Back in the space station...**

Xana was not the least bit pleased. At this rate, Andromon would never make it to the kids and kill them.

"GEH! Persistent little pests they are! Without any proper adjustments, Andromon may as well be doomed to these little punks. I'll give him a couple tweaks. When he goes down the first time...the second time should put them at a hospital...or even better...Death's door!" Xana said, once again going to his capsule to upgrade Andromon.

**Back at the factory...**

Andromon was getting angry and let loose another Lightning Blade. Carefully firing the shot, he ended up hitting the crane's cable, and ultimately freeing himself from Tai's trap.

Xana floated down in his capsule to meet the seriously deranged monster.

"Ah, Andromon. Good to see you. I see you are in working order once again?" Xana said.

Apparently, either the Black Gear was getting to him, or something else was happening in his mind, but Andromon swatted at him, attempting to coldcock him out of the sky.

"WHOA! Careful! Jesus. You always were an unruly employee. I suppose that even with the Black Gear, you still won't follow my orders. Well, how about THIS?"

Xana plugged Andromon with a special bullet from his Caldera X-5 Hand Cannon Pistol, as Andromon appeared to shut down.

"Arise, my modification. Arise, and destroy those brats..."

Unfortunately for Xana, even though the mod-laced bullet had struck him, he swatted Xana out of the sky anyways, sending him flying out to the little town known as Toy Town in the distance.

"WHY MEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee..." Xana yelled as he and his capsule was launched across the factory.

Andromon, now with a mod in him, marched to where the kids were going.

Izzy's group had made it to the roof of the tallest building in the factory. They were just chatting and everything.

"Oh...I'm bored... Grey is my least favorite color and all of this construction and deconstruction stuff was so ten minutes ago. Why are we still here?" Mimi asked Matt.

"Because we are trying to find the purpose of what's being built in this place. All that we know is that the factory is programmed to put things together and take them apart." Matt answered.

"I really, really hope that they designed it with a door." T.K said.

"There _is_ no door." Matt said. This worried the two and their Digis.

"It's based on perpetual motion. Nothing ever stops or leaves this place." Matt said.

Izzy appeared from the door behind them.

"Hey, everybody! You'll never guess what I discovered!" Izzy said.

Andromon was still trying to find the kids.

"VENGEANCE...", he said...and then followed up with a nasty cough. Guess the bullet is affecting him...even before defeat.

"So, what's up?" Matt asked.

"We found out that the computer program in this factory is producing the generating power to keep it going!" Izzy said.

Andromon was getting closer, and was looking more and more sickly the further he traveled.

"Even more incredible, in DigiWorld, basic data and simple information are a living, viable substance! It's alive!", he finished. Tai's group was running through the door, running out of breath.

"Hey, guys! Listen up!" Tai yelled.

"I don't like the tone of his voice." Matt said. He wasn't far from his hunch being correct.

"We have to get out of here. NOW!" Tai said.

"What do you mean, Tai?" Matt said.

He only had so much time to say it in, because Andromon burst from the floor, seething and absolutely sick. Brandon and his friends stopped short, as Andromon got up looking towards the other group.

"CAPTURE INTRUDERS! SENSORS DETECT HOSTILITY!" Andromon said, hacking and coughing again.

"What the hell? He wasn't sick the last few times we saw him!" Brandon said.

"BRING INTRUDERS INTO FIRING RANGE..." Andromon said, lining his sights up again.

"BRING MISSILES INTO POSITION! FIRE!" Andromon said, firing two fish like missiles from his chest. Everyone but T.K, who was understandably terrified, ran for cover.

The two missiles rocketed towards T.K, as he stood there scared and defenseless.

"MATT, HELP!" T.K said.

"T.K!" Matt said.

His Digivice began to glow as Gabumon ran to T.K's defense.

**Gabumon..Digivolve to...**

**GARURUMON!**

"Oh no!" T.K said as he covered his eyes.

With one upward swing of his paw, Garurumon sent the missiles off course. One exploded in mid-air, but the other one was still intact. And it was headed straight for Tai and his group!

Its mouth opened up and revealed a minigun. It cut loose and fired many bullets at their feet. The group had to wildly back up. Brandon pulled out a SCAR-H Desert Rifle and returned fire the best he could. They were known for accuracy, but it's hard to fire when you have to dodge minigun fire at the same time. Agumon managed to escape the fire and began to Digivolve as well.

**Agumon...Digivolve to...**

**GREYMON!**

A quick whap of Greymon's tail was all that it took to total the minigun and destroy the missile entirely.

"WHO CHALLENGES ANDROMON?" Andromon yelled, as Garurumon dashed towards the mechanical miscreant.

He countered by grabbing Gabumon out of his charge, and nailing Greymon on the head during his own charge. Both fell to the ground below, and Andromon jumped down to battle further.

"Get him, Greymon!" Tai said.

"Reduce that hunk of junk to scrap metal!" Matt said.

Both tried their best, but they were quickly trounced again by the much stronger Ultimate level.

"YOU PUNY ONES DARE TO CHALLENGE ME?" Andromon said. Garurumon got back up, not about to give in to Andromon's assault.

"LIGHTING BLADE!" Andromon called again, and fired yet another projectile. It nailed Garurumon in his head, knocking him backwards.

Greymon fired a Nova Blast from his mouth, but Andromon swatted it with his hand like it was nothing.

Garurumon then fired a Howling Blaster, but Andromon no sold that too with a kick.

"He's far stronger than our other Digimon!" Matt said.

"Maybe it's because he's all machine. He's probably Digivolved far beyond our own Digimon's levels." Sora said. She wasn't too far from the truth on her assumption.

"So...it's possible that they could lose?" Tai said.

Andromon caught Greymon's bite attempt out of the middle of it, and suplexed him into Garurumon. There was no denying it.

Brandon then charged off of the building and landed in the fight below. He was going to attempt to fight Andromon himself!

"Brandon! What are you doing?" Tai said.

Brandon wasn't answering. He charged at Andromon. Andromon did the same thing. Both hit each other with the force of a freight train. They charged again and began throwing kicks, punches, and absolutely everything they could at each other. Even though Andromon was obviously a much higher level Digimon than Greymon or Garurumon, Brandon is able to prove that he can fight with powerful foes to a standstill. But at this rate, one would outlast the other, and Brandon was already beginning to show signs of battle damage.

Tentomon then had a brainstorm.

"Izzy, try booting up that program that activated your device!", he said.

"What for?" Izzy asked.

"I believe that's the key to my Digivolving!"

"...Right!" Izzy said. He pulled out his laptop again and booted it up. He ran the program, as the text ended up going all crazy again.

Tentomon began to glow again. This time, it wasn't painful as it was earlier.

"Yes! I cracked the program!" Izzy said in accomplishment.

Tentomon began to change into his champion form.

**Tentomon...Digivolve to...**

**KABUTERIMON!**

The group was amazed that a small little ladybug like Digimon changed into a gigantic beetle like creature.

Brandon and Andromon were still going at it. Both combatants were seriously battered at this point. Kabuterimon was diving and making a pass at Andromon. He missed the first time, crashing against the ground, as Brandon got a free shot off of Andromon thanks to this.

Kabuterimon made a u-turn and made another pass. This time, he connected with Andromon. Andromon caught his head, and attempted to push, but Kabuterimon was a lot stronger, and slightly shoved him back, leaving foot imprints in the floor. Andromon shoved him aside as Kabuterimon flew past him and up again. He was going to make another pass.

Brandon, severely injured, got up and saw Andromon launching a couple more missiles. Brandon rans to him and tackled him, causing the missiles to explode violently and send both of them into the air.

Kabuterimon turned around in time to see both fly into the air. Brandon then tossed Andromon at Kabuterimon. He did what came natural: he threw an attack and knocked him back at Brandon. It eventually turned into a assault and battery type tennis match. Soon, Brandon used a double hammer blow and floored Andromon. He was out cold now.

However...he wasn't out yet. The bullet he was hit with earlier by Xana was beginning to take effect. He began to change as his body armor rearranged and morphed. He began to gain more weapons, abilities, and his performance was being enhanced in all areas.

His upgrades made him all powerful, all seeing, and virtually indestructible. It was going to be a really hard act to follow...

He had become the Annihilator X-5000.

[BOSS: Super Powered Robot Andromon]

Greymon got back up and fired another Nova Blast, but Andromon simply caught it, and tossed it at Garurumon, dealing heavy damage. Garurumon then tried to hit him, but was met with Greymon connecting with his head again, and freezing Greymon solid. He then whacked the giant wolf with the frozen dinosaur, and knocked Garurumon out. He tossed Greymon against the wall, shattering the ice and knocking him out as well.

Brandon was setting landmines all over while he was dealing with those two. However, the landmines were disarmed as quickly as Brandon had set them. Brandon got visibly annoyed.

He had also set up another trick. When he stepped on certain panels, various hazards would hit Andromon. However, it didn't happen like that. Instead, Brandon got hit by them instead.

Now Brandon was getting angry, and Andromon was climbing up the tower. Brandon set up one last surprise up top. He had to make sure that it would knock him out. He had to hit him with electricity. However, Andromon had rigged that too. It zapped Brandon, paralyzing him, and then, he began to blast the hell out of Brandon. Brandon eventually lay on the ground, brutally beaten to hell and back with little resistance.

"NOW...YOU MUST BE TERMINATED. I WILL EXACT MY VENGANCE...HERE AND NOW." Andromon said.

Brandon had enough...he was _**really**_ pissed off now. He could barely think at this point...and then he snapped.

The transformed Andromon turned to look at Brandon, who's face was beet red, and his pupils were a similar color. He was back on his feet, as he began to prepare for the ensuing beatdown.

"YOU DO NOT SCREW WITH ME...OR MY FRIEEEEEEEEEEEENDS!" Brandon screamed. The group was shocked, but Rob and Marie looked on with impression.

Brandon ran at Andromon punched him many times in succession. 64x COMBO!

Brandon flipped over him and drove his knee into the back of his neck, snapping it, and causing him to teeter back and forth as Brandon came running back at him, brandishing a baseball bat. He jumped into the air, and brought the baseball bat down onto Andromon's head. It hit with such force that it splintered on impact. The impact brought a head cold (in this case, a knock out) and caused Andromon to fall face first to the ground. His leg was sparking, as Izzy noted.

"His leg...wait...Tentomon...or whatever your name is now! Hit him with an attack when you get the chance!" Izzy called to Kabuterimon.

Brandon then put Andromon into a Single Boston Crab. Brandon's face was no longer red, but he was still rearing to beat him. Right now, he was trying to get him to submit.

"Say it!" Brandon yelled at Andromon. He wasn't going to give yet.

"Say it!" Andromon still would not give up.

"SAY IT!"

"YOU ARE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH!" Andromon finally managed to say, as he let himself go limp.

Brandon then picked up the robotic Digimon, swung him around and tossed him high into the air.

"GO LONG, TENTOMON!" Brandon yelled. Kabuterimon got the message easily, as he charged his attack.

"**ELECTRO SHOCKER!**" Kabuterimon called out, as he fired a large electricity ball from his chest. It nailed Andromon in his leg, and the Black Gear flew out, having sustained enough damage.

"Another one of those black gears!" Tai said.

"Where are they coming from?" Izzy wondered.

The gear's ascent slowed to a stop, before finally exploding in the sky. Andromon came falling out of the sky, non-fatally exploding partway through (which ditched his upgrades) and finally landing on the tower, out cold for a bit.

The group looked back at Brandon in worry. They never knew that one teenager could have so much power backing him.

Brandon also looked with a similar level of worry. He figured that, sooner or later, he'd have to come clean about how he became so good at this.

Later that day, after Andromon had come to (again), he explained that the Black Gear had rewritten his personality completely when it entered his wounded leg.

"I think it might have had something to do with my previous employment. It's coming back to bite me in my ass. Normally, I'm passive and non-violent." Andromon said.

"You could've fooled us." Tai said.

"No kidding." Sora said. She whispered to Joe afterwards.

"I told you that he was a Digimon and not an android!", she said to him.

"But then I got whacked over the head and stuffed into some machinery, and I don't remember much of anything past the Black Gear." Andromon said.

"Well, who employed you, exactly?" Brandon asked.

"Some large orange lizard. It's been years since I last saw him." Andromon said.

"Large orange lizard...definitely Xana. He built this entire factory?" Brandon asked again.

"I don't think so. As far as I can remember, he must've brought it from somewhere else, because I don't remember there being anything like this before in my life here on DigiWorld." Andromon mentioned.

"Peculiar...we'd better look into this more when we have the time." Izzy said.

"Anyways, I apologize for attacking you children. I wish I could've offered more information about this factory, but sadly, I can't tell you much more than that. My memory banks of the factory's true conception were wiped, but I have explored every inch and learned a thing or two about it. The most important thing is how to escape this place. There is an underground waterway that runs deep underneath this factory and beyond. Over there is where the labyrinth begins." Andromon said, pointing over at the large circular hole behind him.

"Well...thanks you for your help, Andromon. We'll never forget you." Tai said.

"I won't forget you guys either. Just remember the big guy who turned out to be not so bad on your journeys back home." Andromon said.

The group bid him farewell and traveled into the tunnel. They came to a waterway indeed, and they all jumped down...well, except for Mimi, who took maybe about four minutes to come down from the entrance.

They made some banter once again along the way.

"So, was it really your computer that turned Tentomon into a superhero?" T.K asked Izzy.

"Prodigious, huh?" Izzy replied.

"Could your computer make Patamon become a superhero?" T.K wondered.

"Well, I could try." Izzy said.

Izzy brought out his laptop again and attempted to input the data from before. However, the screen shut down.

"Hm...the code's right...but it's not working anymore." Izzy said, confused as to why it didn't work this time.

"Hey, maybe you could give it a few whacks!" Tai said.

"Yeah, let us try!" Agumon also said.

Izzy looked at both frantically before dodging their computer-breaking onslaught. Both hit each other instead of the laptop.

"Sorry guys, but a computer is NOT a toy!" Izzy said.

"Now that you two have holes in your heads, maybe your brains will get more oxygen." Sora said, being snarky again.

Although they had escaped the factory, they had to keep moving. Finding home wouldn't solve itself.

**Elsewhere...**

Xana's capsule had flown pretty far, thanks to Andromon's hit. It wasn't a pleasant time, and it knocked Xana out for an hour or two.

"Ohhh...my head...who turned out the lights?", he muttered in pain as he woke back up.

He finally came to a busted up capsule. The holographic display sparked to life as the figure from earlier began to speak with him again.

"I thought you had more ingenuity than that, Xana. Andromon managed to remember that it was you who emptied the factory out and...'fired' them for their impudence.", the figure said.

"By fired you mean had them executed?" Xana said, still holding his head in pain.

"...yes. Anyways, the status of the factory's Black Gear has shifted from 'possessing' to 'destroyed'. It appears that Brandon child snapped and gave Tentomon enough time to fire an attack that ultimately destroyed the Black Gear.", the figure said.

"Great. And I suppose that they managed to escape the factory as well?" Xana replied.

"Affirmative. They are now in the underground sewers, and heading for Toy Town. I believe you are just outside of it right now.", the figure said.

"Andromon seriously punched me that far? Jeez. But, then again, this gives me a supreme opportunity to triumph over the opposition. How long until they reach Toy Town?" Xana asked.

"Two hours from now.", the mysterious figure said.

"Perfect. That will give me enough time to get everything ready. But are you sure that big dumb teddy bear is restrained at the moment? I don't want to become one of his freaky zombies." Xana said.

"Done. Monzaemon has been restrained. Your plans can go on without a hitch.", the figure said.

"Good. Damn cutesy diabetes coated crap..." Xana said. He managed to get the capsule to sputter to life and fly towards the town, but it was a little tipsy in regards to its damage. He grumbled to himself. Things weren't going nearly as planned.

"Once I get done here, I'm going to need to get repairs...again.", he muttered as he flew off to the town.

**Sorry if there was a delay in making this chapter! As mentioned, I tend to get sidetracked a lot, but I'm making good progress in this story. If I keep on top of it, I'll make ten chapters yet. So, this is a long one, but I hoped you enjoyed it, and I will continue making these chapters to entertain you. Chapter 2 is getting closer and closer to completion. I just have to get Episodes 6 (Togemon in Toy Town) and 7 (Ikkakumon's Harpoon Torpedo) out of the way, and then I can start working on the Chapter 2 finale, Tomorrow Never Comes.**

**Next up: Togemon in Toy Town. Stay tuned and stay frosty, folks.**


	7. Togemon in Toy Town

Digimon Adventure: A Slightly Darker Retelling

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Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, or any of its characters. Or anything I end up ripping off (and I don't have THAT great of a imagination). I do own my own characters.

[Chapter 2: I'm Blue in Purgatory]

{Episode 6: Togemon in Toy Town}

**BEGIN EPISODE**

Things were beginning to unfold in a particularly interesting way. The children had just escaped from a factory that was supposedly once under the control of Xana, and managed to evade and defeat the all-powerful Andromon, even when he too was transformed. Andromon offered a way for the kids to leave the factory, and both the children and Andromon bid each other farewell before delving deep into the underground sewer line. Izzy had also learned that they weren't on an alien planet. It was a world made of sentient data and information. Although he still had some doubts, he was pretty well convinced at this point that this was no virtual reality game created by some ancient alien civilization.

They were still a bit taken aback by Brandon flipping the hell out and defeating the super powered Andromon with just his fists, a knee drop, a baseball bat (of all things), and a Single Boston Crab. Either Brandon was seriously pissed off at how his traps were being disarmed...or it was a failsafe emotional trigger that activates whenever his friends are in danger.

Nobody knew, but they figured that it wasn't such a hot idea to anger Brandon, especially to that caliber.

They had wandered through the sewers for what seemed like hours. It had only really been an hour and forty-five minutes since they ventured in here.

They were particularly bored at the time, so Agumon had thought up a song on the way.

"How about you sing that song you wrote, Agumon?" Tai said.

"You got it, Tai!" Agumon said.

All of the Digimon began to sing in unison as they walked.

" Digimon eat, and Digimon fight; Digimon Digivolve and fight all night!", they all sang.

"Singing sure is a lot of fun!" Palmon said.

"Now, let's listen to some solo performances, starting with Mimi!" Agumon said.

Everyone was a bit dumbfounded. Nobody knew if Mimi was that good of a singer.

In secret, yes, she was a _very _good singer. However, it was a long time since she last sung, so she was a bit out of practice in this regard.

"OH GIVE ME A HOME WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAAAAAAAAM!" Mimi tried to sing, but she realized that she had to work on it again.

"Avoiding your drone." Joe said, holding his hands over his ears.

"Oh, now come on. She can't possibly be THAT consistently bad at singing." Brandon said, before begrudgingly elbowing Joe for his comment.

"I did have singing lessons for three whole years. It's been a while since I last did them though..." Mimi said.

"Well, I'm sure that you will get the hang of it again soon." Brandon said.

"Why, thank you, Brandon." Mimi replied.

"Maybe we should sing as a group. That'd probably be fun! Let's go!" Tai said.

Everyone except Rob and Marie began to sing as a group.

" Digimon fight and Digimon fly; Digimon Digivolve and-"

Well, they almost would have continued, except for the fact that Sora was now looking like that she was about to cry.

"Sora, are you alright?" Tai asked her.

"Yeah, what's the matter?" Matt followed up.

"Well...some water fell from up there!" Sora said, looking to the sewer's ceiling.

Sure enough, some water dripped down and soaked into her shirt.

"That made you scream?" Izzy asked, pointing at the new water stain on her shirt.

"Yeah...no..." Sora said, trying to dry it a bit.

"...what we did just now reminds me of home. Sometimes, I would sing while I was doing my chores. I mostly sung while I was out handing up the laundry. At that time, I was so far away from the house that nobody could hear me...so I could sing really loud.", she said, flashing back to her days in the real world.

"It's okay to miss your home, Sora. What do you miss, Tai?" Agumon asked.

"Hm? Oh. I miss playing sports, then taking a nice long hot bath." Tai said, reminiscing on his days too.

"But that's not the only thing. I miss a nice omelet at breakfast...and I really miss my sister, Kari."

"Games...my games... I was so close to being able to beat Matt at my video games." T.K said, a bit remorsefully.

"Beating me at video games? Maybe in your dreams, kiddo!" Matt said, laughing not at T.K's misfortune, but all of the fun times they had when T.K attempted, and failed, to beat him on the rare occasions that he saw his brother.

"So, you don't miss anything about your home, Matt?" Agumon asked.

Matt stopped laughing and noticed that Agumon was addressing him on the subject matter.

"Well, now that you mention it...I've been dreaming about Sundays...when Dad grilled some steaks. Mmm-mmm! Makes my mouth water..." Matt said.

Joe pushed up his glasses and begin thinking back to all those long, hard nights that he studied.

"I miss my homework. If I fall too far behind, I may have to go to a...junior college!" Joe said.

"I don't miss school...but I _do _miss going on a vacation!" Mimi said, her imagination going into overdrive.

"Nothing beats a cool drink on a summer day at the beach! I just _love_ the ocean air!"

"Wow-wee, that sounds like a lot of fun!" T.K said in bewilderment.

Izzy marched up with a bit of an angry looking look on him.

"Get a grip! I miss accessing satellites to look at the stars and planets." Izzy said.

"Do you miss anything about where you come from, Brandon?" Agumon asked him.

Brandon was silent for a second, then answered a few seconds later.

"If there's at least one thing I enjoyed aside from busting criminals, it was spending time with my friends and family, among other things.", he said.

This all culminated in a collective sigh, signifying that they felt alone in this world.

"They really do come from another world!" Agumon said. Apparently, he's been struggling with the idea since they just got here two days ago.

"That is why they act depressed." Gabumon said.

"Poor kids..." Gomamon said.

However, this reunion with the past would need to be put on hold. Something was coming down the tunnel, and it could be heard from a ways away.

"What's that noise?" Brandon asked.

"Numemon...slimy little bastards." Rob muttered.

"Numemon?" Mimi asked.

"They're Digimon that live down here in the sewers." Gomamon said.

"That's gross!" Tai said.

"And so are they..." Tentomon said, similarly disgusted.

"Are they really strong?" T.K wondered fearfully.

"No! They're weak, but smelly. Just wait until they get closer..." Agumon said.

"Then what do you say we leave? Or am I the only one who doesn't want to get stomped by stinky sewer dwellers?" Joe said.

"You're not alone, J-man." Brandon said.

The low level threats made themselves known down the tunnel, as they came charging out of the darkness.

"There's so many of them! EVERBODY RUN!" Agumon said.

They didn't have to be told a second time. They lit fires under their asses and ran like a buffalo stampede on hot sauce.

"If they're so weak, why do we have to run from them?" Tai said, making a valid point.

"You'll see! Keep running!" Agumon said.

The Numemon platoon was still charging full speed ahead and weren't showing signs of slowing down.

The Numemon in front gave the order.

"Let 'em have it!", he said. The Numemon began tossing...what looked to be (or was) pink crap at the children.

The children kept moving really quickly as to avoid the smelly improvised projectiles.

Brandon was curling up into a ball and continuously shooting forward and smashing into several Numemon to try and thin their numbers, even if only by a little bit. Brandon had to use the recoil of each homing attack to prevent himself from getting nailed by the flying poo.

T.K stopped in front of another branching sewer tunnel.

"Hey, guys! Here's a way!" T.K said, pointing down the tunnel.

They weren't sure where it was going to lead, but they didn't have too much choice in the matter. They ducked into the tunnel and didn't stop running.

The Numemon were still tailing them up the tunnel. They sure moved fast for Digimon that didn't seem to have any legs.

Daylight could be seen ahead. The group ran faster and made their way to the end of the tunnel to outrun the Numemon.

They were greeted by the bright sun, as the Numemon stopped short and slid back into the darkness...

Tai and Agumon were the last ones out, as they looked into the dark tunnel where the Numemon were.

"The only thing capable of driving them away is sunlight." Agumon said. Tai sighed in relief. Lord only knows what would've happened if they had gotten hit by the oddly-colored fecal matter. Probably not much, but they might have had to spend days washing off the funk that covered them.

The children wandered through the plains, and didn't see very much anything for as far as the eye could see.

That was until they came over a hill, and saw another odd sight: loads and loads of vending machines out here in the middle of this field. Now this was getting really weird.

"There must be thousands of them!" Mimi said.

"I'd say just under one hundred." Joe said.

"Or maybe just fifty." Izzy said.

"...There must be enough snacks in those machines to last us a lifetime!" Mimi said, pretty hungry.

"Mimi, they probably don't work. Don't you remember those phone booths?" Tai said, obviously not falling for it.

"Tai's right, Mimi! It might be a trap!" Palmon said, obviously remembering the incident with DrillShellmon two days ago.

"Well, I refuse to believe that!" Mimi said, as she ran down to get something to drink and snack on.

"Mimi, wait!" Palmon said.

"Even if they ARE real, you know they aren't plugged in!" Joe said.

Mimi simply wouldn't listen. She was already on the run to one of the machines.

Tai groaned in frustration.

"We can't stop her, Tai. She's so stubborn." Sora said.

Mimi walked up to the one in the middle of them all. It was a soda machine. Mimi was pleased.

"Yay, soda! You want one?" Mimi asked Palmon.

"No, I don't!" Palmon said, not really happy with Mimi's sudden pigheadedness.

"Jeez, Palmon. You don't have to bite my head off!" Mimi said, as she put in a quarter to start the machine up.

However, instead of dispensing the drink as expected, the front of the machine fell down, as the two avoided it. Inside the shell of the machine was...another Numemon. This one had a beret between its eyestalks and a belt just below its mouth. The beret had Xana's symbol on it, noting that he was working with Xana. Judging from the fact that he was the only one wearing clothes, this must've been the general of the Numemon platoon in the sewer.

"Hi there, cutie pie! HYUK HYUK!", the Numemon said.

"That must be their leader!" Palmon said.

"Their leader? This guy couldn't lead a pack of show poodles around with his bad breath!" Mimi said, getting disgusted.

"Hey, let me take you out on a date!" General Numemon said, erroneously infatuated with Mimi.

"I think he likes you. It must be the hat." Palmon said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Mimi said. Clouds began to form overhead.

"I wouldn't go near that short slimy sewer-sliding sludge slinger!" Mimi said.

"Mimi, you'll make him mad!" Palmon said, worriedly.

"Who cares? Besides, we're safe in the sunlight!" Mimi said.

The clouds were covering the sun. So much for their safety.

"Uh...well, I thought we were..." Mimi muttered, with a look that spelt 'oh crap'.

"How DARE you call me short! The date's off!" General Numemon said, as he tossed some more 'Nume-sludge' at the two.

"AH! Not again!" Mimi said, as she and Palmon darted away.

"PARTY TIME!" General Numemon said, as he bounded towards them. Then more Numemon burst from the vending machines. Soon enough, there were well over a hundred of them. The chase was on again!

"How did they get up _**here**_?" Sora said, pointing at the Numemon that somehow followed them charging after Mimi.

"WHO CARES? Just run!" Mimi said, racing past them.

The group had the same idea. General Numemon and his platoon raced after the group to try and nail them with the technicolor caviar.

"All right, everyone, let's split up!" Matt said.

The group split up to try and deviate attention to just their own respective selves.

Brandon decided to follow Mimi, but needed to ditch the Numemon following him first. He began to run circles around the tree as the Numemon followed him 'round and 'round and 'round, faster and faster, until Brandon lept up into the tree. The Numemon were none the wiser as they continued to run circles around the tree. Brandon jumped from tree to tree, and once he got far enough away from them, he jumped down from the branches and continued to follow Mimi's path through the forest.

She and Palmon were being chased by a trio of Numemon led by General Numemon himself. Clearly, he was rather sensitive about his height. He made a couple of potshots at the two as they ducked behind a tree ahead. Brandon stopped short as well behind another tree, and watched the events in silence.

As soon as the second round of poo flew by, Palmon jumped out and prepared to use Poison Ivy on the three Numemon. Almost immediately, they did an about face and ran for the hills, screaming in terror.

"Thank you, Palmon!" Mimi said in gratitude.

Palmon's confused expression said otherwise. "But Mimi, I didn't do anything. Why did they run?"

The answer was right behind them, as he stomped in behind them. He towered over the two of them, and was almost as tall as the trees of the forest. He was a large, yellow teddy bear with red eyes and a white stomach. He had a large zipper on his back, as if he were a toy. Well...technically, he was a toy.

"It's Monzaemon!" Palmon exclaimed.

They looked up at this new Digimon they hadn't seen before.

"Come visit us at Toy Town!" Monzaemon said.

"Uh, Palmon...is he a Digimon too?" Mimi asked.

"Yes he is! He is in charge of a special place called Toy Town. Toy Town is a place where he takes care of all of the abandoned Digimon toys, and those toys love him." Palmon said, explaining Monzaemon's existence.

"He looks harmless." Mimi said.

"He always has been." Palmon answered.

"I must say, I'm so pleased to make your acquaintance!" Monzaemon said...just before lazers flew from his eyes, causing a large explosion. So much for him being harmless.

"Acquaintance? He's attacking us!" Mimi said, now running for her life and out of the forest.

"You think?" Palmon said, avoiding another lazer blast.

"Please, come spend a fun day at Toy Town with me!" Monzaemon said as he fired yet another blast from his eyes.

Brandon was running a bit ahead of them, as he was going to try and help Mimi and Palmon give him the slip.

"Why are you running? Did I startle you? Sorry!" Monzaemon said, charging up another blast.

"Something's wrong! He's never acted like this before!" Palmon said.

"I know!" Mimi said, just barely outrunning the next blast.

A trench was up ahead. General Numemon poked out of it.

"Come here, cookie! I'll protect you!" General Numemon said to them.

"Ew, no thanks!" Mimi said.

Monzaemon was closing in on them. No time to argue.

"On second thought..." Palmon said, as both of them jumped in and ducked into the trench.

Monzaemon didn't see them enter the trench, and simply stepped over it. However, Brandon was hitting him with rocks and bullets and getting his attention.

"Hey, Pedobear! If it's a visitor you want, come and get me!" Brandon yelled to Monzaemon.

"Well then, come with me to Toy Town then, little boy!" Monzaemon said, firing another blast. Brandon jumped away and ran for it.

"I'd like to see you try, you stuffed rag!" Brandon said, as the fighting died off into the distance.

The coast was clear, as the three poked their heads out of the trench.

"He's gone..." Mimi said.

"Something bad must've happened to him in Toy Town." Palmon said.

"Hey, now that I saved you, pretty lady, how about we go on a date?" General Numemon asked Mimi.

"No!" Mimi said. General Numemon was the Digital World's hopeless romantic.

"Come on, let's go to Toy Town." Mimi said, getting out of the trench.

"But...what about our friends?" Palmon asked.

"...We'll find them soon." Mimi said.

They walked away to go and find Toy Town. General Numemon looked on at Mimi.

"Wow...she's so feisty! What a girl..." General Numemon said.

(Mimi's POV)

Well, we were walking through the forest quickly, taking care as to not run into Monzaemon again, when eventually, we saw colorful towers and buildings in the distance.

"There it is, Mimi! Toy Town!" Palmon said.

It was so pretty! It looked sort of like a big amusement park! Sort of like Disneyland!

Anyways, we entered the town, and the strangest thing was really, really evident...there were no people or toys in sight!

"It doesn't look like anyone's here." I said. Not a single person was in sight! I wasn't really even sure if we would find our friends here too! We stopped in the town square to take in our surroundings. Everything looked so colorful and pretty!

"Something's not right here..." Palmon said. I would think that a place like this should be a lot more lively and fun! But, out of the blue, Tai began to run in front of us, being chased by a little wind-up car! It was an amusing little sight...but something was a little off about Tai... He sort of sounded like a robot. A really happy robot.

"Oh boy, this is fun! This is really fun!" Tai said.

"Tai?" I said. He was acting rather odd.

"Boy, I am really having a lot of fun now! Fun, fun! This is fun!", he said again, as he ran away.

"...That doesn't look like a lot of fun." I said. Being chased around by a toy may be funny, but I doubt it's any fun at all.

Sora began running past us too. And she was being chased by a cymbal monkey! Those things always creeped me out...but really, the behavior of my friends was even more creepy.

"This is so exciting! This is really exciting!" Sora said, as it chased her away too.

"Just what's going on here?" Palmon said. We heard marching. More of that mean old Xana's militia? Nope! It was Izzy, being tailed by a lot of toy soldiers! It was cute...but Izzy's tone wasn't helping matters.

"Oh joy! What a delightful activity! This activity is really delightful!" Izzy said. I don't know what redundancy means, but I'm pretty sure that it means that what he just said was the same thing as what he just said! And I just sprung it on myself too!

"Hey, Izzy doesn't talk like that!" I said. He always speaks in that weird techno-babbly language that I can't seem to understand at all.

"Nope." Palmon said.

Then Matt cane running by, chased by a toy train. I've rarely seen him smile, but it was less charming and more spooky.

"Oh boy, oh boy! Is this really great or what?" He then laughed a rather creepy laugh. I never ever EVER want to hear anything like that again!

Then Joe came running by with...I don't know what that thing is, but it looked like a large bird type thingy. You know, the bird thing filled with water that continuously bobs up and down like it's pecking the ground?

"This really rocks! Forget books, this really rocks!" Joe said. I've never known him to not read any books, as far as I can remember, even back to my counseling days in camp!

Finally, we saw T.K running by, being chased by a toy helicopter. Talk about strange!

"Ha-ha, you can't catch me! You can't catch me! You can't catch me! Ha-ha-ha!" T.K said in a sort of rhythmical sing-song voice.

"That's weird...everyone sounds like a bunch of zombies!" I said. Maybe calling them "funny robots" was a bit of a stretch.

"They do!" Palmon said.

Finally, Rob and Marie ran past, holding hands, and getting chased by...a giant toy mech? That's what convinced me.

"I think we need to look into this a bit more..." I said. I was a little worried about my friends, I won't lie. Then I realized that the other Digimon were nowhere to be seen either! I wondered where they had gone off to.

We walked past a store, and we heard some shouts for help. The voice sounded like Agumon's...it WAS Agumon's!

We entered the store and spoke with them.

"Agumon, is that you?" I asked.

"Yes!", he replied.

"Are all of the other Digimon in there with you?" Palmon asked.

"Yes! We're all in here!", he said again.

"What happened?" I asked him. I wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery. Ooh! Like Sherlock Holmes!

"Well, we were running from the Numemon!", he began.

**FLASHBACK**

_The Numemon were chasing us madly, and throwing their poo at us. Then Monzaemon appeared and managed to scare them away with a lazer attack! But...then he turned on us._

_We tried to fight back..._

"_Pepper Breath!"_

_The attack was completely ineffective. Monzaemon was still standing._

"_My breath isn't working against him! Run!" I said._

_Monzaemon lept into the air, and called out his main attack._

"_HEARTS ATTACK! THOSE TWO!" Monzaemon yelled._

_We tried to run from him, but sadly, we didn't make it._

_Sora and Biyomon tried to attack as well, but they were also caught by his Lovely Attack._

_He soon launched his attack on all of us. We never stood a chance against him. He was just simply too powerful._

"_So...now all of you will serve us! You will all be going into our community toybox! Our toyboy is only filled with children!" Monzaemon had said._

**END FLASHBACK**

Yikes. I didn't think Monzaemon would do such a thing!

"Did he manage to capture Brandon as well?" I asked. If there was one thing that was also on my mind, it was whether Brandon made it out alright or not.

"I don't know! He was nowhere to be found! I heard a lot of lazer blasts and gunfire, so that meant that he was distracting him, and then he somehow eluded his Lovely Attack!" Agumon said.

So Brandon was running for his life, and he somehow escaped the attack. So we still had some hope in case we failed in saving everyone.

"He then stuffed every one of us in here and he somehow brainwashed the others!"

It then dawned on me...this was MY fault. If I hadn't insulted that leading Numemon, maybe we wouldn't have encountered Monzaemon and we wouldn't have gotten into this mess. And if I didn't let my soda craving get the better of me...

"Oh...it's all my fault... I wish I hadn't insulted that Numemon... If I hadn't, you wouldn't be locked up like this...and the others..." I began to tear up. I didn't think that I could get my friends into this much trouble. The Numemon may have been disgusting, but I could have avoided this if I humored him in his advances.

"Don't cry, Mimi! We know you will be able to help us out. You just need to find Brandon and fight Monzaemon!" Agumon said, trying to cheer me up.

"But...but how will I do that? You make Monzaemon sound like a really tough guy!" I said.

"He is! But I'm sure that you will figure out some way to beat him and his army of toys!" Agumon said. It may not be much of a reassurance, but he was right. If we could beat Monzaemon, maybe we could get out of here and continue on. But I wasn't exactly on board with the idea...

"What? You expect us to defeat Monzaemon? Are you crazy?" I said. I was NOT going to face him down without their help!

"We can't get out of this chest, Mimi. It's locked from the outside!" Gabumon said.

"In order to get us out and to de-hypnotize the kids, you have to beat Monzaemon! It's all up to you two! If you can find Brandon though, it should make things a bit more easier for you!" Agumon said.

I was scared. If one big teddy bear could take out all of my friends, there was absolutely no hope for me...

"Mimi, just calm down... You can do it." Agumon said.

...He's right. I could do it if we really tried.

"Palmon, let's get out there and fight for our right to leave Toy Town!" I said.

"Right! But first, we need to get Brandon and hope he can help turn the tide!" Palmon agreed.

"Good luck, you two!" Agumon said, as we left the store.

But...if we had to find Brandon, where was he then?

(Brandon's POV)

I was marching around town wearing a disguise that I had donned in order to avoid detection. It wasn't the best one, but at least I could conceal my identity in case Xana sends out his guards again

I swear, I looked like the Wayward Vagabond with various toy parts stuck on and wearing birthday present wrapping paper and ribbons. (Oh, and some caution tape for kicks.) This was just silly. Not that it's bad or anything, but it was merely bizarre. Then again, my life is not nearly as normal as one would think.

Nevertheless, I suppose I should be lucky that I found a nice hiding place to escape from Monzaemon and his attack. If I had gotten hit by it, I would have become a toy happy zombie. Xana might have the same idea, because I haven't seen him since yesterday at the Yokomon Village. He might be laying low for the time being, but I'm sure we'll see him here too. Wait, this is Xana we're talking about. Of course he'll be here.

Anyways, I had gotten a tip from the other Digimon that everyone but Mimi and Palmon were captured and turned into those mindless zombies. After learning the story, I decided it was time to go bear hunting. Judging from the story however, and from my encounter with him, Monzaemon was a force to be reckoned with. I needed to find Mimi...and fast.

I was walking around and heading towards the store where the Digimon were to give them a status report...when Mimi happened to round the corner.

She noticed me, and naturally, she spoke to me, completely unaware of who I was. The costume worked a little TOO well.

"Excuse me, mister, but do you know where the Digimon known as Monzaemon is at?", she asked me.

I couldn't drop my disguise, or reveal who I was. The first time I tried to set foot in this place, guards were on top of me in seconds, and I had to run like hell. I had to act the part and simply get her to move along to Monzaemon. I would join the fight a bit later, if I had to.

"Monzaemon? Last I saw him, he was at the balloon shop. Seems to me that he was getting ready to set up for a party. Just continue down through here, make a right at the next intersection, and then keep going straight ahead. You may find him, or he may find you." I said, disguising my voice with a gruff tone.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Guard Guy!" Mimi said cheerfully as she and Palmon went to find Monzaemon.

What are the consequences of what I had just done? If I had revealed who I was right then and there, Xana's numerous security bots would've tracked me down and had me surrounded in a heartbeat. If I didn't say anything, Mimi might of gotten tired of me, and went down her own path, blissfully walking into her own oblivion, or getting lost in this town. Now that I told them of Monzaemon's current whereabouts, there was a high likelihood that they would get killed by him...therefore leaving the kids, Digimon, and our worlds doomed to die.

I figured that Palmon would have to Digivolve sooner or later, so if things got too out of control, I would jump into the fight and help out posthaste.

I decided to follow along and spectate the upcoming fight.

(Mimi's POV)

What a nice guard! He knew where Monzaemon was, and we were going to beat him until he gave up out friends!

T.K ran past us again, chanting that sing song 'you can't catch me' stuff.

"This is getting ridiculous!" I said. I needed to take care of the big fat teddy bear, and fast!

Then, that weird looking cymbal monkey came up and kept clanging at me! It was annyoing...really annoying.

"Hey! Stop that! Right now!" I said, stomping the monkey and knocking it over.

That's when that mean old teddy bear came around the corner. I guess he found us first. He was holding tons of balloons, like he wanted to have a party.

"It's a lovely day at Toy Town! You'll like these! Everyone loves the balloons!", he said, still not getting the hint, it seemed.

I then just EXPLODED!

"Hey, Eddie Teddy! Whatever you did to my friends, FIX IT NOW! Or else you'll be in big trouble! You got that?" I yelled.

Well, if not for Palmon warning me, I would've died in the ensuing lazer blast. He sure loves his lasers!

"This is crazy! I'm being chased by a giant stuffed bear!" I yelled again. This was terrifying AND embarassing!

"Now, now, don't run away from Toy Town!" Monzaemon said as he fired, and missed, another time.

But, to my surprise, from the smoke came General Numemon and his entire platoon!

"I'LL SAVE YA, HONEY!" General Numemon said as he tossed some...er..."Nume-sludge" at Monzaemon. It nailed him in the forehead, but it didn't do anything, other than make him even angrier!

"They came back!" I said, obviously shocked.

"Even when you turned him down, I guess he still wishes to repay you!" Palmon said. I found it really hard to believe that a Digimon like THAT could be that dedicated to me. It _was_ sort of sweet.

However, the Numesludge was not working in their favor. Monzaemon began to pound them and knock them away, as if they were an angry beehive against...well...a large bear.

"I can't let them fight alone!" Palmon said, dashing into battle. I told Palmon to be careful.

She used her Poison Ivy, and caught Monzaemon by one of his arms. Unfortunately, my friend was tossed backwards by Monzaemon's insane strength! The jerk!

"My attack simply isn't strong enough to truly toss him around..." Palmon said. That enough was clear.

"HEARTS ATTACK!" Monzaemon yelled. Uh-oh. Time to run!

As it turned out, there was no need for running. The Numemon were right on top of it, as they formed a large and tall wall to prevent the hearts from getting at us. Sadly, they were hit by the majority of them, and were now entrapped inside of them!

"...It's time I took it to the next level. I may be a lady, but I am **NOT** a pushover!" Palmon said, as she got angry.

Then, my thingamajig on my bag began to glow! I think this is that transforming thing that the others were talking about! Yes! Palmon was changing at last!

(Out of POV)

As Palmon transformed into her Champion form, Brandon was sitting on one of the roofs nearby, having been watching over the fight still dressed in his Presentbound Guardian get-up. It may have not of been too much of an epic one, but he looked on in interest.

"Atta girl, Palmon. Now get ready to show that freak who's boss." Brandon said.

**Time to show this Digimon some manners! Palmon...Digivolve to...**

**TOGEMON!**

She had turned into something akin to what would happen if you crossed Variable Geo and a Cactuar together. You'd get something similar to Togemon; a giant, walking, talking cactus with boxing gloves.

"You're going down, big boy!" Togemon growled. Although her voice was still slightly feminine, it was masked with a bit of a masculine tone; rather appropriate for the female fighter.

The two began to walk towards each other, picking up speed as they went until they were running at each other, their fists reared back and itching for some face-to-knuckle action. Togemon launched her fist towards the Ultimate level before Monzaemon could launch his own attack. The fist connected, as Monzaemon struck back.

The two traded punch after punch with each other. Silly sound effects ensued as the two duked it out in the shopping district of Toy Town. Monzaemon tried getting in some lazers, but Togemon wouldn't have it. By the end of the power struggle, both were pretty battered, but Togemon, having just a bit more fight in her than Monzaemon did, unleashed her signature attack.

"Had enough yet? **NEEDLE SPRAY!**", she yelled, as she let loose a stream of needles that struck Monzaemon.

The pain was too much to bear (no pun intended), as Monzaemon's Black Gear shot from out of his back zipper and exploded. Monzaemon, finally out of energy, fell to the ground; despite his stance of being an Ultimate level, Togemon's fury filled punches and Needle Spray felled the large yellow foe with little resistance. Hooray for Deus Ex Machinas!

Togemon then de-Digivolved back to Palmon, who was beat and tired from the fight.

Brandon was impressed. Determination helped Togemon win the day, and rage was a hell of a pain killer, because the punches didn't seem to be slowing her down.

"Heh. I guess that cans it. I didn't need to help her after all." Brandon said.

Mimi ran to the tired out Palmon as she embraced her happily.

"You did it, Palmon!", she said, oblivious to the fact that Palmon just faced down a Ultimate level and was bruised a bit.

"My...stem is bruised..." Palmon said, a bit dizzily.

However, there was little time to celebrate. Three security bots in the air caught sight of the battle's aftermath, and were picking up Brandon, Mimi, and Palmon.

"Hey! Let me go, you big hunk of junk!" Mimi yelled. If there was one thing she hated being, it was being manhandled.

They were being carried off to a large stadium off in the distance. Xana's symbol was present on it, but the stadium looked like it was brand new...just like the things before it. Just how was Xana getting this stuff here anyways?

There was no time to explain. They were dumped in there like trash, as Xana was in the main "emperor's seat", with the hypnotized children at his side.

"Welcome to the Toy Town Stadium, fighters! You will be fighting in three rounds against other toys, and then the champion in the main event. You will all fight together, but you will need to survive to win, obviously." Xana said.

"Let my friends go, you freak!" Mimi said.

"And what will happen if I don't? I saw what you did with Monzaemon, and I decided to bring you into the stadium while Palmon was still trying to recover. A cheeky tactic, I know, but it's all you've got when the heroes seem to know no limits. But the freak in the wrapping paper...I don't know who he is, but I guess he'll serve as your guardian." Xana said.

"Looks like the disguise is working. Xana has no clue that it's me." Brandon thought to himself.

"Oh, fine! But you better promise to release my friends if we win your stupid challenges!" Mimi said.

"Yeah, whatever. Bring in our first challenger!" Xana yelled.

The first challenger came in. A large toy train similar to the one chasing Matt earlier came rolling out of the first door. This didn't look too difficult to take down, but then again, it was Xana. By now, the three figured that Xana jury-rigged it in his favor.

[BOSS RUSH: The Stadium Gauntlet]

[Boss 1: The Wreck Train]

The train began to speed around the arena, as Palmon tried to hit its wheels with Poison Ivy. She did hit it, but she could hold it for only so long...

"Go...get on!" Palmon said, audibly out of breath.

"Palmon..." Mimi said in worry.

"Don't worry about her, Mimi! She's giving us a chance to beat this thing, and we need to take it! She'll be fine! Let's go!", the disguised Brandon said.

She took his word for it and ran with him to the train. They clumb to the roof, since the doors and windows weren't budging. Palmon then tired out, and let the train go loose. The two had to keep theirselves from falling off the train as it began moving again.

The two then jumped from car to car, as the train began to smash into the stadium walls in an attempt to knock them off and run them over, but they held fast.

Eventually, they made it to the cabin, as they began to toss explosives in there. Mimi never handled anything like this before, so naturally, she was a bit sheepish in throwing each one. He needed to keep a close eye on her...if she held on to it for much longer than needed, she'd end up a mutilated charred husk.

With enough explosives and incentive by Brandon to Mimi, the train soon caught fire. It was already declared dead, even before it exploded.

Once it did, Xana was looking a bit disappointed, as if the train didn't try hard enough (you can only try so hard when your only function is to hit and run). Part of the crowds of toys were booing from the bleachers around the stadium, but some were in discussion, wondering if the new guys were worth the show. That sort of happens when you're new meat in the biz.

"The Wreck Train ends up getting wrecked by our new contestants, but they still have two more fighters left until the main event. Bring out our next challenger!" Xana said.

A large, miniature gumball machine sped out of the next door, but didn't attack. It was waiting for them to hit first.

[Boss 2: The Gumball Machine of Luck and Death]

"One of these bosses...better spray and pray." Brandon said, as he hit the toy first. It spat out a black gumball with fire painted on it.

It then began to shoot fire from its mouth. Brandon had to dodge streams and fireballs until it tired out. Brandon then whacked the gumball machine in its now exposed weak spot; its glowing tongue. The tongue must stick out whenever it ran out of candy.

Brandon pulled out his platinum plated desert eagle, the Bloody Rose, and fire one shot into the tongue. It hit the target and sent it for a spin, and then stopped.

Mimi then went up, and threw her best punch that she could. It nailed the machine as it spat out a white gumball with a heart on it.

This ended up healing Palmon and the two kids to full strength. Palmon was now awake, as if she had helpfully downed a full meal.

"All right, you overgrown dispenser! Let's see what you've got this time!" Palmon said, using some more Poison Ivy.

The knob turned...and out came a black gumball...

It had a skull and crossbones on it. The gumball machine was beginning to launch a small nuclear warhead, and the three had five seconds to escape from the fairly large targeting radius.

Soon, the warhead struck the ground and exploded upon impact*, creating a large shockwave that spread across the arena.

*Note: Nukes never detonate on impact in real life. They detonate in mid-air to maximize destruction.

The three managed to jump it the best they could, and just barely cleared it. Palmon hit the tongue, as it spun around again.

It was on the ropes. All three then decided that it was time to hit it at the same time. They jumped at the machine and hit it with all their might. The knob turned as it spit out one more gumball...

A light blue gumball with an angel on it.

The gumball machine notes that this is a really bad sign for him. He dies immediately, and then explodes.

"Lucky for our players here, they got the Gumball Killer gumball. Unfortuantely, our challengers are beginning to run out for the moment." Xana said, getting slightly more irritated.

The crowd was now really in talks on the now probable survival of the new guys. Some of them were now cheering the trio on. Xana wasn't exactly taking kind to this newfound likeness for the heroes.

"Anyways, the second challenger had been done away with, and I pronounce him dead. So, bring out our last challenger before the main event!" Xana said again.

The sun was setting over Toy Town, and the group had only finished half of the baddies in the stadium.

A large toy mecha stomps out of the door. It looks kind of like a Gundam.

"Okay, now we're wheeling in the big guns. Say hello to the ZX Gunman!"

[Boss 3: ZX Gunman]

The robot began to fire up its jet thrusters and shot forward at the trio, wielding a large chainsaw blade. The group dove to the sides to avoid it, as Brandon followed up with a Toy Town rocket launcher shot. It blew off the shoulder plating, but not much else. This thing, like Andromon before it, was as resilient to even a rocket. To both, it was merely like a heavy duty bee sting.

Brandon, once again, refused to use bullets for two reasons. One was because they obviously wouldn't work. Two was that if he pulled out his guns and other swords in favor of the standard issue Toy Town guard weapons he was using, Xana would see through the disguise during the fight (if he hadn't already) and send out more militia they could handle.

However, despite the similar level of resilience to rockets, it destroyed one of the shoulders completely. The armor must've been weaker than Andromon's, because the now exposed metal joint underneath was showing. The joint was undamaged, however. If Brandon could destroy enough of the armor, maybe he'd be able to find a weak spot.

The robot managed to recover, as Brandon fired yet another rocket at it. It dodged and tried to shred Brandon with the chainsaw blade. Brandon dodged likewise, as he ordered Palmon to steal the chainsaw blade.

It was a high risk, but she decided to do it. She used Poison Ivy to accomplish this feat. Trying to hold on without getting beaten to death or shredded was the hard part, but she managed to get her vines under the hilt and attempted to swing at the robot with the large blade.

It hit the robot, scarring the armor a bit, but not totaling it. In the midst of this, Brandon fired another rocket, as it smashed into the armor and detonated, destroying some more armor. Part of its arm armor was busted, and part of its chest armor was partially destroyed.

Something on its back was becoming exposed. It was flashing yellow, and around it was a red metallic object.

A weak point. One more rocket and its armor would crumple in that spot, or totally.

Brandon had one more rocket left. He had to be careful with this last shot.

Brandon decided to wing it. He ran at the robot, which was standing by, ready to parry the attack.

Then, Brandon lept up into the air, and smashed his rocket launcher into its head. He then pulled the trigger and fired it.

The rocket devastated the head of the toy mech, and caused the rest of the armor to collapse.

The weak point was now quite apparent. It was a red metal circle with a yellow flashing light in the middle. Firing at that with something powerful would destroy the toy robot.

Brandon decided that it was now or never. He'd have to reveal who he really was sooner or later.

He pulled out his unique Super Shotgun, the Ego Smasher, and fired a single two shell shot at the weak point. The weak point exploded, as the mech crumpled to the floor, light shining from its body. It was preparing to self-destruct.

"Wait...nobody carries a weapon like that. Nobody except..." Xana said.

Then, it dawned on him. Who he thought was just a regular, albeit unique guard in Toy Town was actually Brandon in disguise. In fact, now that he was looking much closer, Brandon looked like one of the Five Exiles.

"BRANDON!" Xana yelled in frustration. The robot self-destructed with the group at a safe distance. Mimi looked quite shocked. The disguise was so well crafted that it masked Brandon's identity completely.

At this point, the enitre capacity crowd was starting to cheer for the group's prowess. A few were still silent, watching intently, but they looked pretty impressed.

"You little son of a bitch! You slipped past my security measures!"

"Hey, don't blame me! YOU didn't upgrade them to see through disguises!" Brandon said.

"B-Brandon? But...why did you..." Mimi asked.

"Security measures, didn't you hear?" Brandon said.

"Oh." Mimi said.

"I suppose that if you're so eager to die, I guess I'll make that request fathomable to you little brats. Bring on our main event!" Xana said.

The floor in the center of the stadium begin to open up, as a large shrine rises up. A small little robotic soldier with a bunch of toy soldiers is standing in front of an on the shrine.

Judging from the telltale symbol on his admiral's cap, he was another one of Xana's cronies. Brandon already knew who this goofball was, but Mimi and Palmon were a little bit more unaware of who this new threat was.

"So, you have come this far, eh? The name's Admiral Nano, and I'm afraid your winning streak ends here.", the robot no taller than a Buzz Lightyear action figure said.

Brandon moaned in frustration. Xana's thugs were everywhere, and the Disaster Troopers were not an exception to that rule either.

"Uh, Brandon...who is that guy? Is he like that crazy pyromaniac guy we saw yesterday?" Mimi asked.

"...His name is Admiral Nano, and no, he is not as crazy as Holmes was. But he's still affiliated with the same team. You can clearly see his logo on his hat." Brandon said.

Mimi hadn't noticed before, since she was looking at this tiny robot, think about how this thing could pose a threat to them. But she looked at his hat, then at the monitor embedded in the metal replacement chest on Xana, and saw that the symbols were exactly alike.

"Yeah, Nano's a part of a group of robots that Xana made, called the Disaster Troopers. They live up to their name; some can cause natural disasters, and they are a danger to anyone and everyone...including themselves." Brandon muttered.

"So they're not good at their jobs?" Mimi said.

"At times, they come pretty close to being competent, especially in a fight. But most of the time, yeah." Brandon said.

"Brandon! Long time no see!" Admiral Nano said, greeting his long time nemesis.

"Not likewise, my miniscule tank driver. You've been cooped up in this stadium, right?" Brandon asked him.

"Of course! I've been adding to my body count since this place got set up!" Admiral Nano said, the titanotron screen switching to Admiral Nano stand on top of well over a hundred Digimon corpses, looking smug and victorious. Mimi clamped her hands over her mouth and gasped in shock at the sight.

"But frankly, I don't care for you or your lady friends, sir! You're soiling the good name of Xana!" Admiral Nano said.

"Like I haven't done so several times before... But your unjust and unprovoked killing of Digimon for sport has to stop right now. You've gotten away with this for a long time, I can imagine. Well, your Karma Houdini warranty's about to expire." Brandon said. It wasn't clear underneath all of that wrapping paper and his black face paint, but he was smirking, knowing he was about to give Admiral Nano his just deserts.

"Is that so? If you're one to try and face me down again, I guess there's no avoiding it. Taste defeat!" Nano said, as his small army got battle-ready.

Brandon took a stance as they prepared.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!" Nano yelled as the toy soldiers charged forward. The battle was on!

[BOSS: Admiral Nano]

The fight began with the toy soldiers marching in and stopping several feet from the trio.

"Okay, men! We need to smack these little brats down. All together now! CHARGE!", the leading soldier said.

Brandon looked through his move itinerary and laid eyes on the Power Bounce.

Brandon jumped towards the army and jumped on the group's heads. Three damage for the first one, then he repeated, the jumps getting weaker. However, the toy soldiers were dropping to the ground in defeat and exploding. Eventually, Brandon messed up on one jump and jumped back.

Mimi then stepped up, Brandon having already used his turn. She couldn't do much, but she could at least utilize her singing again. Brandon and Palmon plugged their ears accordingly, as she began to sing.

The singing was pretty bad, but then again, Mimi was seriously out of practice (after all, it had been 5 months since she last did it). Her singing did some more damage to the army knocking some more soldiers out of the fight.

There was only nine soldiers left, and now it was Palmon's turn. She didn't want to go Champion yet, because the team needed her to help out.

She walked up to the soldiers and prepped a multi-slap technique. It hit up to five times as she whirled around with her fingers outstretched. It got rid of some more soldiers and poisoned the rest.

Four soldiers remained. They attacked the three, making them take one damage per hit. Thank fully, it only hit up to four times, which amounted to how many soldiers were present. Had the full army been there, it would have ended badly for Brandon and company, unless they guarded to the best of their abilities.

The poison took effect, knocking off another hit point. Three soldiers remained after the fourth one exploded.

The trio's turn to shine again, Brandon decided to end with a hammer blow to the remaining soldiers. He pulled out his Ultra Mallet and wound up for a Power Smash.

Brandon successfully landed the blow, dealing 2 damage. Not quite enough to take out all of them, but nonetheless, Mimi walked in and hit the last soldier with her bag after Brandon had gotten done with his turn.

With all the soldiers down and out, Nano oversaw the results.

"Mercy, they beat them all! That surely can't be good... Time to roll out!" Nano announced.

Another toy soldier walked in, and was signaling to Nano to move in with two neon glow sticks. Nano can wheeling in with a huge toy tank, accidentally knocking the soldier over, causing him to cry and run off. He facepalmed at his mistake, and backpedaled slightly. The tank was also outfitted with an large electric bulb.

"You three shall pay! You beat my infantry...but that's all you'll do! Prepare for the next wave!" Nano said.

He then whistled for two more soldiers. They came down, unfolding like paper, on stilts. One was a regular soldier. The second one was T.K.

"What? Why is T.K against us?" Brandon asked.

"I think he and the other kids are hypnotized! Maybe Xana did it..." Mimi said.

"That wouldn't surprise me." Brandon muttered in response.

"Go, attack them, Stilt Soldiers! Fight! Fight! Fight!" Nano said.

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" T.K and the soldier yelled. T.K was definitely under Xana's influence.

Brandon noticed that T.K was blankly staring off into space with a creepy zombie-like smile on his face. This was because of the small Headcrab-like creature latched onto part of his head. A jump would have to suffice, both for knocking them off the stilts, and for damaging the Mind Warper Bug on T.K's head.

Mimi never quite noticed them, but that might have been because of their cloaking ability active in the town square. Nevertheless, Brandon used his Multibounce, to hit both enemies, and knock them to the floor of the stadium. The creature had been slightly flattened on T.K's head, but naturally, that was due to Brandon smashing it in his jumping.

Mimi tried her hand at jumping as well, but could only muster enough strength to jump on just the soldier. He only had seven HP, so he went down fairly quick.

Palmon saw the creature too, and attempted to pry it off of T.K's head. After a bit of effort, it came loose, as T.K fell to the ground, unconscious. A security robot carried him to the sides of the arena so that he'd be safe from the fight.

Nano began to show signs of frustration.

"Grrrrrrrrr! Unbelievable! I guess it's time for my special battalion..." Nano said, as he whistled for the remnants of his army.

A solder fell in...followed by Joe, then Matt, and finally Tai stacking on top of each other. A second soldier came in, this time with Izzy and Sora, with one last soldier popping out of the cockpit from underneath Nano's seat. While he didn't like the joke, the bad Admiral had high hopes for this wave to destroy them.

"Ho ho ho ho ho! I pity you three! It's high time you all paid! ATTAAAAAAAAACK!" Nano said.

"Yes, sir!", the two stacks said.

Palmon tried to use Poison Ivy to yank one stack down, but they were kept afloat by Nano pulling on them too.

"This is not the time or place to be cheating!" Nano said. A pretty hypocritical statement, considering that he was riding in a toy tank that was practically armed to the teeth.

Brandon had to get a little creative with his hammer. He twisted himself close to the first stack, and then released with full power, spinning his mallet, and knocking the soldier out from underneath the rest of the stack. He hit the other soldier, damaging that stack as well and knocking the other soldier out from underneath the second stack. The soldiers then exploded, beaten.

With only two HP to go (the Spin Smash Brandon did handed five damage to the front stack), the stack was still up to attack. Palmon finished the job with a Poison Slap, knocking the three children unconscious, and killing the mind warpers.

One stack, consisting of Izzy, Sora, and another toy soldier, was still standing, as they pulled out slingshots and fired at Brandon. Again, damage was analogous to how many soldiers were present. Since there were three, they would do three damage, but since Brandon blocked the attack, it was merely two.

Brandon then decided to finish the job with a Super Jump. He landed the jump first, then hit a Ground Pound on the way down, dealing six damage total. The stack collapsed, with the two children losing consciousness and mind control, and the soldier on top exploded like all of the rest.

Now Nano was beginning to get fed up with the fight. He was silent for a second before exploding in rage.

"GAH! Grrrrr...fine! I'll fight you all myself! Nobody embarasses the Disaster Troopers of Xana's army! NOBODY!" Nano said, as he ducked inside his tank. His defense increased a little to compensate for this.

The trio attacked the cockpit, but little progress was being made, with one damage point with each attack, save the slightly more powerful ones.

Nano sprung up again when the team's turn was over, as the light bulb charged up, and shot at the three. Brandon guarded against it, but Mimi and Palmon weren't so lucky. They took the hit, getting five damage. Brandon didn't get of nearly as easy, though. He got hit with four damage. Not too much in retrospect, but when you don't have much health to begin with (especially against a boss that should normally be fought much later), things can get a little difficult.

There was no argument about it: the light bulb had to go.

Brandon used another Power Jump, and dealt six damage to the bulb. It was visibly cracked, but it wasn't enough to truly shatter it. They needed to take care of it fast...another volley of electricity, and they'd be fried.

Mimi, although she didn't seem to use her brains very often, knew one thing that might come in handy. Her singing again. She knew that, at the right pitch and frequency, glass would shatter and make a mess. At this point, whether it made a mess or not was not much of her concern. Her concern was for her friends. They were running low on health, and she knew what she had to do.

She took a deep breath, and began to sing a bit. This time, she tried to sing better instead of singing out of practice, and eventually high a high note. She needed to hold it, as she saw that the glass was beginning to crack thanks to it. Within a few more seconds, the bulb shattered completely.

That didn't exactly mean that Nano was lacking in weapons. He popped out, and tossed several bombs at the three. They were blown backwards, as they took damage from the explosions.

Nearing the end of their health, the group was hoping that they would be able to find some sort of weakness to this guy.

"Wait...I think I know what his weakness is..." Brandon said, pulling out a large railgun.

He aimed and charged it up, then fired it at the tank. A whole 15 HP was knocked off of the tank's health bar, leaving it with a 22/40.

"HEY! Quit that! That is illegal contraband you are holding in your hand, Brandon! It's breaking through the defenses of my tank! You're breaking the rules of war!" Nano yelled.

He then ran over the group with the tank. Palmon just barely avoided it, but now Mimi and Brandon were at their breaking points.

With the children on the verge of death, Palmon was getting desperate. She thought, if she could change into Champion form, she could give the children some time to heal up and plan their exit strategy.

She could only pray that she had enough energy to digivolve.

Thankfully, Mimi's digivice began to glow again, as Palmon transformed into Togemon once again to dole out some good old fashioned punishment.

"You want to mess with my friends, huh? Well you'll have to go through me, small fry!" Togemon said. She was serious now, but it got Nano's attention, as she drew his attack fire. With her now increased 70 HP, she'd outlast his attacks.

"How...how are we going to heal, Brandon...?" Mimi said, on the verge of collapsing from pain.

Brandon then thought back to the Justice Diamond he received upon MechaKuwagamon's defeat. He remembered that these things have their own power that can help greatly during fights. Granted, it was only just the first Diamond, but Brandon didn't pack much in the way of healing items before he left to beat Xana and his satellite Goldeneye II, so they needed to use the power or suffer the consequences.

The first emerald Justice Diamond contained the power of Refresh, which would randomly heal upwards to ten health points, and up to ten mana points. It wasn't much, but every little bit helps.

Brandon used it. Instantly, they were healed five mana points and eight health points. This was good enough to last them through the rest of the fight.

Meanwhile, Togemon and Nano were hammering each other. Togemon had been knocked down to half health, while Nano's got even lower...a mere 12 health from defeat.

Togemon noticed that the kids weren't nearly as battered as before, and signaled for them to come over to where she was so that they could finish this tool off together.

Brandon decided to stop joking around, and use another Power Stomp. He got a lucky hit, and dealt 5 damage to the tank.

Mimi tried to jump again. This time, she managed to jump high enough to land on Nano, dealing 3 damage.

At 4 HP, Nano's tank wasn't going to last much longer. Togemon was going to make sure of that too. She finished the rest of his HP off with a Needle Spray.

Nano was _furious_. "WHAAAAAAAAAT? YOU HAVE _GOT_ TO BE **KIDDING** ME!", he screamed in rage. He did not notice that his tank was falling apart, until it lurched backwards, and exploded, sending him into the air, and finally causing him to land on the ground, dizzy.

Xana was just as beet red as Nano was. The capacity crowd was cheering wildy, seeing as the new trio had beaten the undefeated champion.

"...Oh, for crying out loud, Nano! If you couldn't beat them, then I'll kill them myself!" Xana said, jumping down from his stand, and pulling out his Bumper Blade again. His capsule was returning to him, ready to carry him off if need be.

In his anger, he had forgotten that Togemon was still present in the stadium. Togemon simply did what she did best; she pounded Xana, knocking him senseless and causing him to stumble a bit. The capsule picked him up, but Togemon was on it, as she uppercut the thing back into space.

"..." Xana yelled as he was catapulted off into outer space again.

"HOOOOOOOOOOMERUUUUUUUUUUN!" Brandon yelled, as the crowd exploded in exictement. The group had managed to take on another of the Disaster Troopers and win again.

Later on, night was beginning to fall on Toy Town. The group came back around and headed to the main square. Monzaemon had to explain that he wasn't malevolent on purpose. His eyes were completely closed, a sign that the Gear's influence was no longer controlling Monzaemon.

"I have no clue what came over me... I am normally supposed to bring toys boys and girls no longer want to Toy Town and keep them safe! So many of them got destroyed by those fights in the Stadium...but I'm sure I can find more to replace them! And I wanted to give toys some way to let their owners walk in their shoes!" Monzaemon said.

"How? By turning them into zombies?" Mimi asked.

"I don't think he ever intended to do that, Mimi." Joe said.

"I didn't, Joe. Something managed to get inside of me, and turn me against any and all visitors. The only thing I remember is that black gear hitting me and I blacked out." Monzaemon said. It wasn't really becoming a big surprise anymore. The Black Gears were becoming a lot more commonplace now, it seemed.

"You know, I'm beginning to take this whole "Black Gear" thing a little personally. They always cause a lot of trouble before we take care of them." Tai said.

"Well, at least we took it out and made Monzaemon good again!" Mimi said.

"Don't forget taking down Nano and his army. By the way, nice uppercut, Palmon!" Brandon said.

"It's the least I could do." Palmon said.

The group had done it again. Another Digimon was freed from the cast-iron grip of the Black Gear. Monzaemon was getting up.

"My friends, there is only one way I can truly show my gratitude, and that's by giving you all a big hard hug!" Monzaemon said.

"Oh boy..." Joe muttered, understandably. The Lovely Attack wasn't exactly so lovely...but with Monzaemon no longer under the weather, that might change.

"Here we go! This is my gift to you! HEARTS ATTACK...with a hug!" Monzaemon said, launching the attack one last time. This time, the hearts were pink instead of blue as they were.

The first heart hit Palmon. She was instantly overcome with a good feeling. Mimi also got hit with it. Everyone save Brandon got hit by the attack, who was still wary of what happened before. It took a quick reality check with Monzaemon to finally understand that the Lovely Attack was no longer a depression causing one. Brandon allowed himself to get hit by another attack, and felt that warm fuzzy feeling wash over him. All of the stress he was feeling seemed to just vanish. Life never felt so good, as the group was floating a little above Toy Town.

General Numemon, having survived the previous Lovely Attack, popped out of the nearest manhole, and spotted Mimi again. He just would not give up his pursuit of her.

"Hey, dumpling! A kiss for your hero?" General Numemon asked Mimi once more.

Mimi cheerfully looked at him, and simply said "No!" in a very cheery tone.

"WOW! What a girl! She'll come around..." General Numemon said, falling to the pavement, disappointed.

The group was having a good time. Life could not have been any sweeter at that point. Toy Town was finally back to normal.

**Meanwhile...back in outer space...**

Xana was stumbling back into his office, still trying to recover from the punches he was hit with. His construction crew had to try and pry his capsule from the wall he crashed into and needed to patch up the hole to prevent life loss.

He entered it, and sat down in his chair, holding his head in pain. In a fit of anger, he grabbed a nearby pillow and screamed into it. He was acting childish, but except for certain cases, when wasn't he throwing a fit like this?

Looking up from his pillow, his ally was calling in again. Tossing the pillow aside, he pressed the audio-video button again.

The image of the figure in darkness appeared again. The tone in his voice was audibly irritated.

"You failed yet again, I see. You should have upgraded Monzaemon like you did all of the other Digimon you indoctrinated into your army.", the mysterious figure said.

"Cut me some slack, dammit! Monzaemon creeped me out, and I didn't wanna become one of his toy loving zombies! Jeez." Xana said. Apparently, becoming a toy loving zombie to Xana was as clowns were to children who watched It.

The figure sighed. "You need to man up. Once the kids begin moving again, they will likely be heading to Infinity Mountain, which is connected to the nearby Tomorrow City.", the figure said.

"They will have to go through there in order to reach the next part of File Island...and therefore, your trap." Xana said.

"Precisely, my liege. I now have a ton of Black Gears ready for deployment, and all of them are in perfect working condition. Should I launch them?", the figure asked.

"Well, by all means, do it! We'll take the Digital World by storm!" Xana said.

"...Speaking of which...has one of your many accomplices taken care of Tomorrow City?", the figure asked again.

"Of course. Tomorrow City is under his control. All he has to do is keep those little brats from getting the city secret and the second Justice Diamond, and we'll be in business." Xana replied.

"Excellent. I will release the Black Gears effective immediately. But you better play your own part and modify some more of those Digimon...", the figure said.

"Or the deal's off, I know. You've lasted this long, right? Well, let's just hope that our next targets can stall or kill our little pests here." Xana said.

"Yes...let's hope.", the figure said, ending the transmission.

Xana turned off the comm link and stared out his window.

He sighed. "What's it going to take to beat these kids?" Xana muttered to himself.

[END OF EPISODE 6]

**Sorry that this took a little longer than intended, but a lot of things have been on my plate lately, school being a prominent part of that. Anyways, we're getting closer to the Chapter 2 Finale, and by extension, the ten chapter milestone I've been wanting to reach (Yeah, sorry, Dead From The Beginning, but this fic will beat you out of that achievement yet). I'm hoping to reach the end of this fic sometime soon, but this has got to be the longest chapter so far, clocking in at a total of 29 pages! I'm sure the additional boss rush post-Monzaemon fight did it, but hey, I'm still trying to stay faithful to the dub script the best I can. If I didn't stray from the source material now and again...well, that wouldn't be very interesting, now would it? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this episode. The plot is beginning to thicken as the group nears Infinity Mountain and the legendary Tomorrow City. But it seems that Xana and his friend are one step ahead. What will happen to the group? What is this alleged secret that Tomorrow City is hiding? What awaits them in Infinity Mountain? You have to find out in the next episode of Digimon Adventure: A Slightly Darker Retelling!**

**Next Episode: Ikkakumon's Harpoon Torpedo. Stay tuned, and stay frosty, fans.**


	8. Ikkakumon's Harpoon Torpedo

Digimon Adventure: A Slightly Darker Retelling

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Digimon characters, or anything I take off of. I do own my original characters.

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[Chapter 2: I'm Blue in Purgatory]

{Episode 7: Ikkakumon's Harpoon Torpedo}

**BEGIN EPISODE**

=Digital World Day 4, 2:34 PM, 1999=

Toy Town was a bit of a problem when Monzaemon was infected with the Black Gear. Most of the children he managed to capture were turned into mindless toy loving zombies (this is that last time I use the term, I swear) that were chased by the toys. However, with another Digivolution, Palmon became Togemon and blew Monzaemon away with her punches and Needle Spray. But that wasn't all; Xana had gotten a stadium into Toy Town, and was using it to stage fights for toys vs. Digimon. Xana's champion of the stadium, one Admiral Nano, had been undefeated...well, until yesterday, when he was finally beaten with the combined efforts of Brandon, Mimi, and Palmon. It was another crazy day in the world of Digimon, and it wasn't showing any signs of letting up either.

The group was now walking through a quite chilly forest, towards a large mountain in the distance. Unknown to them, tons of Black Gears were flying through the air once again, looking for more unsuspecting targets to land in.

Gomamon was trying to get Joe to lighten up a bit, because he was complaining yet again on how they weren't listening to him. He believed that he should be the leader because that he knows better that the others do. It may be partially true, but it's their own decisions, and they have the right to make them.

Mimi, T.K, Palmon, and Patamon were cold, but that was understandable. As usual, though, Joe was complaining a bit, about how the fir trees were aggravating his sinuses again.

"Oh, come on you guys. The cold isn't that terrible!" Tai said.

Granted, it wasn't too cold out, but it still was chilly enough to at least warrant a jacket.

"Perhaps not, if you're a polar bear or a penguin." Izzy said.

"Yeah, but if it ends up snowing, we can throw some snowballs!" Tai said, looking pleased.

"And make snowmen!" Mimi said, joyfully.

"Who's Snowmon?" Gomamon said, clearly missing the point of the term for a Digimon.

"A Digimon from their planet." Gabumon said, going along with it. Gabumon sort of figured that they were not talking about a so called Snowmon, but a snow_man_, something they build. It reminded him of Frigimon, Guardian of the Frozen Park.

"It's sort of difficult to explain..." Izzy said.

"Well, if it's edible, count me in!" Tentomon chimed in, thinking snow was food.

"Well...it's a fun game we play in the winter months. You can throw bunches of snow at each other. But I suppose it IS edible..." Izzy said.

"You throw food?" Tentomon said. Well, they were still lacking human world intellegence, but they were getting there.

"Maybe we could build a snow fort!" Matt suggested.

"You'll need one!" Tai said, suggesting that he could kick Matt's ass at a snowball war.

"I bet I could beat both of you blindfolded." Sora said, jokingly.

"I want to build an igloo!" T.K said. Joe was looking at the group like he had no hope for them. To them, he felt that he was invisible.

"I'll help! If you tell me what it is." Palmon said.

"An igloo sounds scrumptious!" Tentomon said.

"Too bad they aren't edible." Izzy said.

"Come on, guys! It'd be terrible if it started snowing right now!" Joe said.

"Lighten up a little, Joe! We're just trying to look on the positive side of things." Sora said.

Joe said 'bleh' in disgust, like snow made him nauseous or something.

"Hey Tai! When is it gonna snow?" T.K asked Tai.

"Probably any second." Tai replied.

"Right on Joe's head!" Matt joked.

"That'd be so funny!" T.K said.

"I can't wait to see the look on his face!" Tai said, joking as well.

"You know, guys...if the temperature drops any lower, we won't be able to camp out anymore. We'd be frozen digi-treats." Joe said.

Everyone laughed, except for Brandon.

"Yeah, keep laughing. But when your toosies freeze, don't come crying to me, because I'll just say 'I told you so'. Think before you act, guys. Better safe than sorry." Joe said...before noticing that he was being ignored again. The others were walking away. Only Brandon seemed to stick around, listening to him.

"Geez, you guys are always so ignorant...thank anyways, Brandon...I guess..." Joe said, a bit disappointed that nobody was taking him seriously as a leader.

"Hey, don't sweat it, man. They're just trying to have fun. I understand that you are trying to keep them safe, but we're kids. Not everyone's gonna listen to you the first time. Give it some time, and maybe you'll become someone great." Brandon said, trying to lighten Joe's spirits.

"Well...I try to get them to listen...but..." Joe began to say.

"Dude, stop worrying so much! I think you just don't seem to have much faith in yourself. In that case, what do you want to become?" Brandon asked.

"...I want to become a doctor to help people. Well...that's what my father wants me and my brothers to be. It kind of gets irritating, listening to how much he asks me to do this, and honestly, while I do what I do well, I'd much rather be something else." Joe said.

"Like what?" Brandon asked.

"...I'm not sure yet... I mean...I suppose I'd make a good doctor...but I tend to get fidgety around more severe injuries, like the ones you sustain. I'm worried for these guys, because...what if they get into serious trouble and I'm not around?" Joe asked worriedly.

"Hey, you were able to heal me up several times, right? You could be a lifesaver, man!" Brandon said.

"I know, but at this rate, I don't think they'll survive without someone to act as the caretaker. I feel like that I am running a daycare or something." Joe said.

"Again, I know that you're trying to be responsible, but I guess it can't really be helped. Let's follow them and hope that they have not gotten into too much trouble." Brandon said.

"...I guess I'm glad you're with me and not against me." Joe said, kind of grateful.

They moved ahead, and came across a field of snow.

"Oh, man! This is even worse than I thought it was!" Joe said.

The group was now debating on the next course of action that they should take. Should they continue on the snowy field, or should they continue to the mountain in the distance? If they kept walking through the field, their toes would go numb, which wasn't exactly a threat, but still could cause colds. If they tried to reach the mountain, it would be a hike.

"So...what are we supposed to do then? Stand around here like dorks until we turn into popsicles? Tai said, arguably annoyed with the lack of options.

"It's either the snow field or the mountain. Take your pick." Rob said.

Agumon halted the conversation. He had smelt something off in the distance.

"Whoa there, guys... I think I smell something." Agumon said, sniffing the air. Some of the other Digimon followed suit as well.

"There's a weird odor in the air..." Agumon said again.

Biyomon was sniffing as well. "I think he's right."

"What could it be?" Gabumon also asked.

"We're not going to figure it out by simply standing around here, obviously." Marie said. She wasn't being much of the chatty type.

They saw steam off in the distance. A clear sign that something was over there.

"She's right. I think we'd better move and see what that steam's coming from." Matt said.

"Maybe it's a big geyser!" Joe said, exicted.

The group decided to go and see what this new discovery was.

It was water. And not just the regular cold water, this stuff was hot!

No, seriously, it was really, _really_ hot. So hot that they simply could not touch it without suffering severe burns.

"Uh oh... This water's much too hot!" Tai said worriedly.

"We'd be boiled if we jumped in this!" Tentomon said.

"There go my hopes for a nice warm bath..." Mimi said in disappointment.

"It looks kind of inviting." Palmon said.

"Yeah, if you're a vegetable." Matt said, subtly poking fun at what Palmon resembled.

Joe tried to take up the mantle of being responsible again.

"What's a little dirt compared to starving to death? We need to find something to eat, and there's nothing in sight!" Joe said.

"I think you might want to turn your attention to this sight over here." Brandon said.

"Yeah! There's something over there!" T.K followed.

"What are you two talking about? I don't see any-" Joe stopped short, as his eyes caught sight of a green refrigerator, out here in the middle of these boiling hot water pits.

"Tell me I am not seeing this... That cannot be real!" Joe said again, notably shocked that there would be a fridge out here in the middle of nowhere. But it was right there, staring him and his friends in the face.

"A refrigerator means food, and food means we can stay alive longer!" Tai said.

"Yup. I suppose looking in there shouldn't hurt." Rob said.

Tai opened the refrigerator. Inside of it, dozens upon dozens of eggs were inside. Surely, this would keep them going for a month at best. Joe was still on the fence about the idea.

"What if these eggs belong to somebody else? We might be stealing from them in that case!" Joe said.

"We'll just tell them that we are in need of help, and they might listen to us." Sora said.

"But what if these things aren't fit for human consumption?" Joe said, still worried sick.

"In that case, I'll be the guinea pig! If I turn purple, then obviously the are not edible!" Tai said, still in a joking mood.

"We shouldn't worry too much. These eggs look fairly edible. In fact, they look like they just came from the grocery." Brandon said.

Joe groaned in frustration a bit.

Brandon was right on the money. The eggs were indeed fresh and trap-free. No Shellmon or Seadramon here. Sora way frying some of the eggs. T.K was boiling some of the others, and the Digimon were creating bowls. Joe was carving up some chopsticks, but he was clearly disinterested in the job because all but Brandon were not listening to him whatsoever.

"Hey, Joe, hurry up with those chopsticks!" Tai said.

"Sorry, but this stuff just makes me uncomfortable. Who knows what will happen if one of us got hurt or sick. No doctors, you know..." Joe said, utilizing some dark, ironic humor. He was not really happy about the predicament, and how he simply could not get the group under control.

"Why am I the only one to think of these things?", he said to himself.

Soon, the eggs were completed, and the group was ready to chow down. They had their dinner, and were enjoying every little tasty bit of it. T.K and Matt had a craving for some ketchup and eggs.

Joe, however, hadn't eaten his food, much less even touched it.

"What's the matter, Joe? You haven't even once touched your food." Gomamon said, a tad bit worried for Joe.

He was silent for a second or two, then he spoke.

"Oh...I was just thinking that if we were able to go home, ketchup wouldn't be a problem..." Joe said. The group had stopped eating, and was listening to Joe; a real shocker considering their attitude to him earlier.

The rest of the group began to yearn for home again, like they did yesterday.

"It's been four days since we've arrived here. So much has happened in such a short time." Brandon remarked. The first day, they nearly got crushed by three separate (and modified) Digimon. The second day, they came across a Yokomon civilization and defended it from Xana's nutty pyromaniac android, and defeated a modified Black Gear infected Meramon. The third day, not only did they explore a factory and beat a seriously upgraded Andromon, but they also came across Toy Town and managed to beat Monzaemon and one Admiral Nano.

The kids weren't aware of what was about to happen today, but they would need to survive much longer if they wanted to leave. _Especially _today. And everything after it.

The group were in talks about what they wanted on their eggs when Sora brought it up. Some of these option seemed relatively normal, until when Izzy said he'd like his topped with mustard and jellybeans.

Mimi's response was likely the most bizarre of them all. She liked her's topped with maple syrup, and sometimes with cherries on top. The group was visibly weirded out.

"That sounds weird...but I bet it sounds good..." Izzy said.

Tai and Matt were trying their hardest to not bust out into laughter at these bizarre egg combinations.

Joe was not really pleased. In fact, the conversation was making him lose his appetite.

"What? Come on, guys! You're making me lose my appetite! Ugh... I just eat my plain! Why can't we talk about something other than egg recipes?" Joe uttered in disgust.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, they're just having fun!" Gomamon said.

"Yeah, loosen up a bit, Joe!" Matt said.

"I think it's too late for him! He might think we're a bit crazy with all of this egg talk!" Tai said.

"I mean, seriously, jellybeans and cherries on eggs is just crazy talk! Salt and pepper is all they really need. 'Keep it simple', that's always been my motto!" Joe said.

"Guess Joe is not the kind of guy who is one to be adaptable to new things." Gomamon said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Joe said, clearly insulted.

"Well, out of all of these people, you're acting like a stick in the mud, if you catch my drift!" Gomamon replied.

"I AM JUST PRACTICAL!" Joe said, getting flustered now.

"It never ends. Here we go again!" Biyomon snarked, as Sora watched on, amused at the fight.

Gomamon was asking for a fight, and Joe was taking the bait, because he stood up to try to beat Gomamon into paste. Whether he was being for real or not wasn't coming to fruition because Matt (big suprise, huh?) stepped in to break it up.

"Hey, calm down, you two!" Matt said, grabbing Joe's arm. Joe responded first by tearing away from Matt's grip.

"I AM calm! He's the one who's stingy! Besides, why'd you try to grab my arm like that?" Joe said, visibly annoyed.

"Jeez, Joe. You're not acting like your regular self today. You're a basket case." Matt responded.

"I'm just trying to be careful! Unlike the rest of you guys...you're all asking for trouble!" Joe said.

"Dude, you need to stay calm. We'll get through this, I'm sure of it." Brandon said.

"Not that you'd care about that, Brandon. Everyone's a critic." Joe uttered, not wanting to accept Brandon's hospitality this time.

Night fell upon the digital world.

=Digital World Night 4, 7:52 PM, 1999=

Joe was sitting by one of the water pits, tossing rocks into it, and talking to himself on the whole matter of everyone but him throwing caution to the wind.

He sighed. "I've got to be the cautious one around here. I'm supposed to be the voice of reason, but my protests seem to fall on deaf ears..." He said, and tossed another rock into the pit.

Tai and Matt were arguing on which was the best course of action; stay where they were, or attempt to scale Infinity Mountain. Brandon was getting rather annoyed by it all, so he decided to have a nice little chat with Joe.

He walked back a bit, and saw Joe sitting at one of the water pits, tossing rocks into it still. Brandon walked up and sat down near him.

"Oh...hey there again, Brandon." Joe said, clearly depressed.

"Hey man. What are you doing over here?" Brandon asked.

"Oh...just minding my own business... In actuality, I'm still trying to fathom the fact that you guys don't seem to listen to me...even when I'm being dead serious. What are you doing over here with an invisible guy like me, anyways?" Joe asked.

"Matt and Tai are at it again. They are arguing whether or not they should go to Infinity Mountain. I swear, even me and Bob didn't argue that much for all the times he had gotten me annoyed or irritated." Brandon said.

"Yeah. They always have the opposite idea. If one side has an idea, the other side will try to immediately shoot it down." Joe said.

"No kidding. It's like listening to Republicans and Democrats. One side has a beneficial idea, the other shoots it down, and it's an all out bicker war as usual." Brandon replied. Apparently, Brandon was not all too fond of the government at times.

"Still, Tai said that if we were to climb up Infinity Mountain, we might have the highest view and we can then see just where we are.", he followed up.

"True. Matt's the kind of guy who'd much rather stick to safety...probably for the sake of his brother. I wouldn't blame him. I'm a guy who doesn't exactly like confrontations..." Joe said.

"But you've got a long way to go before you grow out of that stage, Joe. I know that somewhere deep down inside of you, you DO want to have some fun. You DO want to contribute something useful. But you don't seem to have much self-esteem. I can relate. I used to have a LOT less self-esteem until I was able to face down Xana the first time. The more fights that passed with the villains arriving in my city, the more my morale was bolstered. I've come a long way, Joe. You and your friends will likely need to go above and beyond the call of duty to succeed in the Digital World. You are like a fatherly figure to the group, Joe. You need to prove your worth so that people will stop trying to make a mockery of you. You WILL show people what you are really made of!" Brandon said, not hesitating to launch off into a motivational speech.

It took a few seconds, but it dawned on Joe. Brandon was right. He needed to try to take a risk. He needed to prove that he was worth a damn.

"...Maybe you are right, Brandon. If I want the others to take me seriously, I will need to do something to save them, right?" Joe asked Brandon.

"Precisely. You may not think you can, but a little motivation may go a long way." Brandon replied.

"Okay... I'll try to take your advice..." Joe said.

"Joe...there is no try. There is only do. A try is practice. Rarely in life is there any practice at all. You get plenty of shots. You will only miss those shots if do NOT even try to do anything. You will only succeed when you have failed and learned from your mistakes." Brandon said.

Joe, with renewed confidence, looked at Brandon with a bit of a nervous look, but it changed to a determined 'I can do this' look. He nodded his head affirmatively, and then got up.

"So, are you ready to head back to the group?" Brandon said.

"...Yes." Joe said.

They marched off to the group.

Meanwhile, Tai and Matt were _**still**_ arguing over the issue of Infinity Mountain. Out of all of the argument holders you can think of, Tai and Matt are simply the best there is.

"Put your fists down when you talk with me! You cant just bully your way into being the leader!" Matt said.

"Oh, yeah? You're being a complete wimp, Matt! There is no other surefire way of knowing where we are in this place unless we climb that mountain!" Tai shot back.

Joe stepped in. He was now filled with renewed vigor and vim, and was going to take this with a grain of salt.

"Now, guys...let's be calm and sensible about this. We need to think this through a bit." Joe said, breaking the battle up.

"Well, what's your opinion on this, Joe?" Tai said.

"Yeah, who's right?" Matt said.

Joe was silent for a few seconds, gaining his bearings and thinking of a response. Finally, he came to the most logical conclusion he could think of.

"If you want my honest opinion, you're both right." Joe said.

"What?" Tai and Matt said, a little bit shocked. Joe wasn't acting like this before. They remembered him as being the rather indecisive, cowardly guy with the glasses. Now, he was acting like a new man.

"Tai, you're right about climbing up the mountain. If we get up to there, we can see the entire landscape of the island and formulate a way to get out of here. However, Matt's right as well: we have no knowledge of what could be on that mountain, so anything we may come across on our way up could be our untimely doom. In either case, we will have to improvise, both to climb up the mountain and to fight against anything that could pose a threat." Joe said, before realizing that the two were back to their Cain and Abel BS again.

He decides to AGGRESS the situation and pull out a rolled up doctor's magazine. He then whacked both Tai and Matt upside the head to establish superiority.

"You two have GOT to stop this nonsense! There's no sense in acting like five-year olds over this! We have to cooperate and think this through! We WILL head up that mountain! But, it's getting too dark our for tonight, so we will need to find some shelter!" Joe said, exploding at Tai and Matt.

Never has anyone in the group seen Joe act with such hostility at Tai and Matt's bickering. The group, save for Brandon (well, partially), was in utter surprise. Joe realized this, and regained his composure, pushing his glasses back up on his face. He then walked away to the cave. The others, not hoping to invoke a similar reaction out of Joe again, follow him.

Brandon looked a tad bit worried. He was worried because Joe might of taken the whole conversation with him a bit too far. But Brandon figured that the whole whapping Tai and Matt with a magazine was somewhat harmless. It wasn't too monstrous to consider it a Moral Event Horizon, and the act wasn't enough to be brushed off and mark Joe as a perpetual Karma Houdini.

At least Brandon hoped that Joe wouldn't get TOO out of control with his new vigor.

=Digital World Night 4, 11:45 PM, 1999=

Late that night, Joe was having trouble sleeping. He didn't know how to handle this whole problem correctly. He had thought back to what Brandon had said to him earlier that night. He began to think to himself.

"I need to prevent these guys from getting into too much trouble...but I think I handled the fight too roughly and got myself into it. I still feel like that I am not helping enough in my advances. What Brandon had said...maybe he's right. If I don't get out there and do something about being a responsible figurehead and prove my worth, I may not be taken seriously for the rest of our time here... Their lives depend on me!" Joe thought, as he got up, and walked out of the cave.

"I'll do it... I'll be the one to climb Infinity Mountain." Joe said.

Several yards away from the cave and on the base path of the mountain, a familiar voice chimed out. It was Gomamon. Seems that he was serving as the watch-out for this time of night. Either that, or he was woken up by Joe's leave.

"Joe, you're not thinking about climbing the mountain by yourself, are you?" Gomamon said, appearing before Joe up ahead.

Joe was not the least bit pleased. "Ugh...why don't you get some sleep?" Joe said, denouncing his own partner, and continuing past him. Gomamon began to follow, which frustrated Joe further.

"Look, you're not coming with me, so stop following me around!" Joe said again.

"Not going to happen, Joe. Besides, I have some important business to attend to at the top of the mountain, okay? Sheesh, Joe...not everything is going to revolve around you." Gomamon said, though it was really a lie. Gomamon had no business at the top of the mountain. He just wanted to join Joe so that he would not get into trouble on the mountain.

They spent exactly five hours on the hike, climbing up, helping each other whenever possible, and generally getting halfway there.

"Man...Whew...I need to rest for a little... Well...looks like we're almost there, Gomamon." Joe said.

"Yeah...we make a fairly good team, don't we?" Gomamon replied.

"Actually...we do!" Joe said.

The ground began to shake. Joe thought it was an earthquake, but it was worse. _Far_ worse.

**Meanwhile, deep in the mountain...**

Xana was wide awake and preparing something...

**PSYCHE!**

Xana's actually NOT awake at this time! Even villains need to sleep when need be! In fact, he's not even in the mountain. He's in his space station, soundly waiting to wake up again soon.

But even when a villain sleeps, Xana is one step ahead.

Utilizing stolen technology from one of Brandon's friends, Xana has created a multitude of Dream Bots, which can be controlled by the unconscious mind of someone who sleeps. Only Brandon, his friends, his family, and the Villain's Alliance are known to use these to a devastating effect.

Xana has been catching on to the destruction of each and every single one of his own Dream Bots, so he created a respawning mechanism that creates another Xana Dream Bot when the one currently in use has been destroyed by Brandon or his own respective Dream Bot.

For the other Dream Bots for the Villain's Alliance, tough luck.

Nevertheless, Xana's Dream Bot is currently hard at work on booting up the newly manufactured Black Gear Cannon. The newly built cannon is beginning to rise up from the mountain and launch another payload of Gears to more unsuspecting Digimon.

**Outside of the mountain...**

It seems that the mountain is shaking because of a large strange contraption rising from its peaks.

"What the hell is that thing?" Joe said, flipping out a little.

"I'm not sure...but whatever it is, I get the feeling that we will need to take it out eventually!" Gomamon said.

It pointed upward, and shot several Gears into the sky. These Gears must've been the ones seen flying through the sky earlier, being sent to a secret underground base deep underneath Infinity Mountain.

"It fired some Black Gears!" Gomamon said.

"Oh man...it must be that Xana guy again!" Joe said, losing some of his confidence. Although Brandon gave him 'the talk', it didn't improve his bravery against Xana by any means.

The two hurried up the mountain to see where the cannon came from. However, the wall was closed.

"Hm...I could have sworn that cannon was coming from here..." Joe said, perplexed.

"Those Gears may have disappeared by now...maybe."Gomamon followed.

But Gomamon halted when he heard a noise...a noise that sounded much like a horse's neigh.

From the bright moon, a winged horse came flying in.

"Oh, great. A flying horse with a mask. This can't possibly get any worse.

"That's not just a regular everyday horse with wings, Joe. He's Unimon, a wise old Digimon. I never quite knew that he lived on these mountains...well, he's not much of a talker, really." Gomamon said.

Unimon landed on the mountain, and stopping at a small waterfall running down the side.

"I guess that must be his watering hole." Joe said, as Unimon drunk from it.

Upon closer inspection, Joe noticed that he was much further upgraded, a sure sign that he was modified beyond belief by Xana. However, Unimon was completely passive. Xana's logo was all but etched away, most likely by age of the mechanics. The parts were also partially rusted a bit, so these upgrades were here way before the kids landed in the Digital World.

"Wait...he's been upgraded by Xana...but he's not attacking us. Why?" Joe said.

"Your guess is a good as mine, Joe." Gomamon replied, not knowing why this Digimon was minding his own business instead of attacking them like all of the other 'Mod-mons' before him. The lack of free will was _very_ apparent when one showed up. Unimon might of broken free of Xana's mind control years ago.

"He seems to be a very nice Digimon. And he looks beautiful...for a heavily modified Digimon." Joe said.

"Maybe he can tell us what we need to know! Then we can go back to our friends!" Gomamon said, greeting Unimon.

However, Unimon's peace would be disrupted, as he heard a high-pitched noise...the telltale sound of a Black Gear coming closer and closer...

A dark shape behind the Black Gear's sinister silhouette also came into view, as the Black Gear struck Unimon directly in his back. The Gear was still half-visible, but it was pretty stuck in there.

Almost immediately, Unimon turned from passive to aggressive, and turned his now malicious attention to the two visitors.

"Oh, crap... I kind of wish you hit that Black Gear with Marching Fishes now..." Joe said.

"Don't worry, Joe... We will get through this...I hope." Gomamon said.

Dream Bot Xana flew in and put a saddle on part of Unimon. The robot was armed to the teeth with weapons of all kinds. It saddled up and prepared to attack.

"...Now you wish that we would have brought our friends along, right?" Gomamon said.

"Yeah... RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!" Joe said, screaming at the top of his lungs. He had lost all trace of confidence. Dream Bot Xana on a Black Gear infected Modified Unimon was not going to be an easy fight...that is if Joe had any way of fighting back at all.

[BOSS: Unimon and Dream Bot Xana]

Joe: Waste exactly four hours with running away from this deadly duo.

You run for your life, screaming hysterically from these two maniacs for four hours straight.

Your life really sucks right now.

=Digital World Day 5, 8:23 AM, 1999=

The group had just had a nice long night's sleep, and were just waking up in the early hours of the morning. Brandon and Sora were the first to wake up. Sora noticed that Joe and Gomamon were long gone by now.

"Hm...where'd Joe go off to?" Sora asked. Brandon merely shrugged, as the two of them went outside. They saw a note scrawled on the ground. It said...

**I'll be back in a while. Please wait for me**

**Joe**

"He didn't go off to scale the mountain by himself, did he...?" Sora said, a bit worried about Joe.

"Oh no...the talk I had with him backfired drastically...and now he's paying the consequences of his actions..." Brandon thought to himself.

"GUYS! WE HAVE AN EMGERGENCY!" Brandon went into shouting frantically to wake everyone up.

Back on the mountain at daybreak, Joe and Gomamon were being fired upon by a combination of Unimon's Aerial Attacks and Dream Bot Xana's arsenal. Unimon was chatting up a lot of casual banter...as he was trying to kill Joe and Gomamon.

Unimon soon got the upper hand and trapped the two between him and the hole in the cliffside he just made.

"That's a perfectly safe route if you're thinking about flying!" Unimon said. He wasn't going to hesitate in combining attacks with Dream Xana to kill them, so he charged another attack.

"**AERIAL ATTACK!**" Unimon shouted, as his mouth lit up and filled with an energy ball.

"We need some help..." Joe said, worried sick.

Thankfully, Birdramon slammed Unimon into the side of the mountain, with the Dream Bot sustaining some leg damage in the process. Hanging from her legs were Sora, Tai, Agumon, and Brandon.

"Guys!"

"We came to rescue you!" Tai said.

"But what were you thinking?" Brandon said afterwards. Joe looked pretty embarrassed in this case.

Unimon quickly recovered, as did the fifty foot tall Dream Bot on his back. The Dream Bot flew away to give some air support, as Unimon performed another Aerial Attack and knocked Birdramon clean out of the sky.

"Birdramon!" Sora yelled, as she slid down the mountain to see if she was alright.

Tai looked back to Agumon, who hadn't Digivolved yet.

"Well?" Tai said, expectant.

Agumon didn't argue. He simply did what he was meant to do.

**Agumon...Digivolve to...**

**GREYMON!**

Greymon attempted to swipe at the flying equestrian, but he ended up getting smashed further into the mountainside. He recovered remarkably fast, though, and continued to attack Unimon. But Unimon slammed him again and fired another attack. Brandon was firing shots at Unimon as usual. The rockets were working in favor this time, weakening Unimon a bit.

Meanwhile, Dream Bot Xana was firing attacks at Sora down below. Birdramon was either shooting her Meteor Wing at the attacks and intercepting them mid-flight, or taking some of them by becoming a human shield for Sora.

The two evil-doers swapped places, thanks to Dream Xana sending a signal through his horn to Unimon. Now Unimon was against Sora and Birdramon, and Greymon, Tai, and Brandon were up against Xana's Dream Bot.

Brandon jumped into action by jumping off of the cliff and grabbing onto Dream Xana's tail. Brandon goaded Dream Xana into swinging his tail up and gaining enough momentum to jump off the tail and grab onto the horn antenna. The signal was being disrupted, meaning that the Dream Bot was not able to signal to Unimon that it needed assistance.

Joe was watching Birdramon try to fight against Unimon, but it was a futile attempt, as Unimon smacked into her and sent her smashing into the ground where Sora was standing, causing the ground to collapse from underneath them. However, he saw the Black Gear, embedded deep within Unimon's back.

"So that's where it landed..." Joe said, his eyes focused on the Black Gear.

"Joe, you're seriously not considering..." Gomamon said.

"It's a risk I have to take, Gomamon. If I don't do it...I don't know who will." Joe said.

It was a risky gambit to begin with, but Joe summoned the courage gained from Brandon's speech and, without thinking further on it, jumped from the mountain path and successfully landed on Unimon's back.

Dream Xana was beginning to get rather unruly, as Brandon was finding himself on the business end of heat seekers. Brandon needed to time it juuuuuuuust right in order to trick the tracking system...

The missiles mere inches from his body, he jumped towards the missiles, then used the next one to propel himself away from the other missiles.

Dream Xana got hit with most of the missiles; they couldn't react in time. However, one more missile was still remaining. Its target had been lost and it was looking for Brandon (who had just landed on the mountain path again, struck by missile shrapnel), but its sights soon set on Unimon and Joe, who were completely unaware of the missile's presence.

"Oh, hell!" Brandon said. His stomach had been punctured, and he was bleeding from the orifice. Some stomach acid was also escaping and burning at Brandon's skin.

Going rigid from the pain, Brandon needed to act fast or else he'd have to watch in horror as one of his friends got gibbed by a heat seeking missile. Brandon pulled out a missile launcher of his own, and put in a electricity filled missile. It was an EMP type missile which would either, hopefully, destroy the missile outright, or screw up its targeting system so much that it won't even be able to see anymore.

But Brandon had to take careful aim...these things weren't able to home like the missile he was targeting could.

Dream Bot Xana was taking aim at Brandon with whatever weapons remained intact through the heat seeker bombardment. Greymon was quick to notice, and shot a Nova Blast at the threat's charging rail gun. It not only destroyed the rail gun, but it also blew apart its remaining hand. It brought out sparking cables that served as arms for it, and prepared for round 2 with Greymon.

Brandon fired at the missile, taking the Coriolis effect into account, and aiming just ahead of the missile.

The missile struck as the heat seeker spun off course, and crashed into the mountainside where Joe and Unimon were flying past.

Rock flew at both Joe and Unimon. Sharp bits mostly struck Unimon, and Joe was hit full force by several rocks of varying shapes and sizes. Joe was bruised and partially bleeding from it, but he would simply not let go.

"I must be responsible...I must not give up!" Joe said.

Dream Bot Xana was not expressive, but it was safe to say that it was quite mad at this point. In a fit of rage, it fired rockets all over the place. While Greymon and Birdramon were able to shoot down some of the missiles, the rest either exploded on the mountain, or somewhere dangerously near the others.

But the nail that sealed the coffin was when one of the missiles struck Unimon. The blast had nailed Unimon in his back legs, causing him to rear up quickly in pain. Joe was flung from Unimon's back because the initial strike loosened his grip a bit.

Gomamon watched in horror as Joe, his partner whom he had only really spent four days with, fell to his death.

"NO! _JOE!_" Gomamon screamed out loud.

Gomamon may have not had known Joe for more than the four days they had been together, but he had to save him from his fate. It was Gomamon's turn to be the responsible one.

He began to digivolve into his Champion form at last!

**Gomamon...digivolve to...**

**IKKAKUMON!**

Joe was still falling off the side of the mountain, but Ikkakumon, who was Gomamon as a large white seal covered with white fur and a black horn, was waiting exactly where Joe would have landed.

"What the?" Joe said, surprised at Gomamon's transformation.

"You don't need to worry now, Joe! I've got'cha! Now, are you ready to rumble?" Ikkakumon said to Joe.

"You bet! Let's do this!" Joe said.

Unimon was struck by two tons of large white fur and blubber. He recuperated and counter-attacked with another Aerial Attack. Ikkakumon didn't have to do much to dodge the blazingly fast projectile. Ikkakumon followed up with his own attack.

"**HARPOON TORPEDO!**" Ikkakumon called out. His horn became a sort of flying missile, as he fired at least two of them at Unimon. Both of them missed...initially.

"You missed him!" Joe said.

"Oh, did I?" Ikkakumon said.

He was right. The attack did a u-turn and came back at Unimon. The horns split apart, revealing actual missiles. Both were aiming for the Black Gear in Uni's back.

Both struck Unimon. Direct hit. The Digimon was forced to the ground, as the Black Gear shot high up into the air, and self-destructed, like all of the others before it.

"Great job, Gomamon...or Ikkakumon!" Joe said.

"I think the credentials go to you. For having the guts to pull what you did, Joe." Ikkakumon said, quite impressed with Joe's newfound determination and vigor.

With Unimon now out of commission, now it was just the matter of taking out Xana's Dream Bot, which by this point in the fight, was heavily damaged. All it had left to defend itself with were its sparking cable whips and missile system.

"Ikkakumon, you know what you have to do!" Joe said.

"You got it! HARPOON TORPEDO!" Ikakkumon said, launching his attack again. The two drills hit it, and self-destructed on collision with the Dream Bot. It was still standing however.

Brandon, still bleeding and stomach acid eating away at his skin, decided that explosives were not going to be enough in this case. He had to overload the sensory and, as much as he hated to, bring Xana back to reality.

Brandon used Greymon as support to get up to the massive robot, and jammed the Anarchy of the Universe into its brain.

Brandon then cranked the electrical charge up to eleven and cranked the knob that popped up on the hilt to generate the massive electrical explosion that would result.

"Full Power... GO!" Brandon yelled, as the sword overloaded and shocked the Dream Bot violently.

The robot soon exploded, sending Brandon flying into the mountainside. Greymon quickly reacted by catching Brandon mid-flight.

**SWEET CATCH!**

Brandon was pretty burnt from the explosion, and the stomach acid was still trickling.

"Well, you did good out there, Brandon. But you got banged up again." Greymon said.

"Heh...just another day in my life, Greymon. I'll get over it." Brandon responded. He was pretty hardy, that was for sure.

Later on that morning, the group had regrouped, and after extensional first aid work done to Brandon's injuries, they had finally reached the top of the mountain, as they had made their goal.

When they got up there, there was almost nothing but water as far as eye could see.

"Geez... So we're really stranded out here, huh?" Tai said.

"I wouldn't say that. There could be some islands out there somewhere. They may just be a bit too far from this one and we can't see them." Izzy suggested.

"Perhaps." Rob said.

Brandon was looking around, then something caught his eye. An odd tube was sticking from part of the peak. A sign on it read 'Recycle your troubles to Tomorrow City here! We'll be happy to turn your non-working materials into new ones!"

"Tomorrow City? Where in the world..." Brandon wondered.

"Tomorrow City... I've never heard of such a place." Rob said. Brandon jumped back in surprise, then caught his breath.

"Don't do that! Jeez. But...you've never heard of Tomorrow City?" Brandon asked.

"Not exactly. It wasn't here the last time..." Rob began, then stopped. He refused to let his secret fly to the group just yet.

"What'd you just say?" Brandon said, getting a little suspicious.

"...Nothing. Forget I said anything." Rob said.

Clearly, he was hiding something. Brandon decided to drop the subject again and not bug him about the whole issue. Not until the time was right.

Brandon noticed the button on the side. Out of curiosity, he pushed it...as the top of the tube popped open and began to suck the kids in with a powerful vortex.

That was not the smartest move they had made all day. What they were headed to was going to be much worse that anything they had to worry about.

**In the space station...**

Xana woke up in a cold sweat, having lost a battle as his dream self. The dream bot's destruction took a toll on Xana, nearly taking his life. In reality, it does not, but when a Dream Bot is destroyed, you'll wake up immediately and feel like you're having a heart attack.

Xana rolled out of his bed, wide awake and having trouble breathing. In the midst of this, his ally was calling for him once again.

Catching his breath, he stood up and walked over to his chair, and brung up the screen once again.

"Well...I guess trying to rely on your Dream Bot was a bad idea after all. Or one of your former employees for that matter. With the destruction of your Dream Bot, the Black Gear Cannon has been destroyed as well, and is no longer functioning.", the mysterious stranger said.

"Hey, come on! I tried to assist Unimon to the best of my abilities! If Brandon had not given Joe that pep talk.." Xana said.

"Even then, fate is inevitable. Joe would have matured over time nevertheless. If you had never gotten involved in this folly of taking over the Digital World, I would have continued with my plans anyways. And even though you continue to modify these Digimon...", the figure said.

"I am supposed to lose, I know. Big...blippin' surprise. But the same would go for you too, you know. And all of my other allies." Xana said.

"I am aware that my fate won't entail the most positive outlook, and neither will yours, my liege. But there's no hurt in trying to beat them into submission.", the figure said. Xana merely rolled his eyes in response.

"But I am not here to express the fact that fate seems to favor the heroes. What I am here to tell you is that the children are en route to Tomorrow City via the garbage chute at the top of Infinity Mountain."

"Really?" Xana asked.

"Yes, they are. The children...no...the DigiDestined are on their way to their deaths. As long as one of your villain friends keeps things under control and prevents them from gaining the city's secret and second Justice Diamond, our plans can go on without any further hitches.", the figure said.

"Splendid. How long until they reach the sewers?" Xana asked.

"They'll reach them in about thirty seconds. That shouldn't be too long.", the figure said.

"Good. Tomorrow City will likely scar the little brats to here and yonder. I like the way we think sometimes." Xana said.

"But remember...if this villain should fall, it's time for me to make my move, got it?", the figure said.

"Yeah, I got it." Xana said. He ended the transmission, content with the newly-dubbed DigiDestined's destination.

**[End of Episode 7]**

**Another episode comes to a close, and the Chapter is beginning to near its end. Again, I apologize if trying to get this finished too longer than you expected. But again, I do get distracted, and school's become a factor in my life again, so I apologize for those shortcomings. Anyways, as chapter 2 draws to a close, I am excited to say that the ten chapter milestone draws much nearer than before. I do hope that I will get this to much more than that as well. I hope you have been enjoying my work so far, and I hope to continue making more.**

**With the kids going through this garbage chute, is Tomorrow City a safe haven or a dangerous hell? Find it out in the next installment of Digimon Adventure!**

**Next up: the Chapter 2 Finale, Tomorrow Never Comes. Stay tuned everyone!**


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